
Classl 5T^ ^ ^ 
Book. . 



Gm0}it 



CQEmiGHT DEPOSm 



TEACHING TO THINK 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

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TEACHING TO THINK 



BY 
JULIUS BORAAS 

PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, ST. OLAF COLLEGE, NORTHFIELD, MINNESOTA 
LECTURER ON EDUCATION, STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1922 

All rights reserved 



( 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



^^A-S^ 



3 



Copyright, 1922, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published February, 1922. 



Press of 

J. J. Little & Ives Company 

New York, U. S. A, 



FEB -8 1922 

0n!.A654543 



PREFACE 

A preface should indicate those beliefs or viewpoints 
of the author which constitute the basis or background 
of his book and which will enable the reader to under- 
stand its general purpose. I shall, therefore, state briefly 
the convictions which influence the chapters that follow. 

Real success in the various vocations into which pupils 
enter after leaving school is, I believe, directly dependent 
on the ability of the individual worker to think effect- 
ively; that is, on his ability to apply acquired informa- 
tion rather than on his ability to offer it in mere repeti- 
tion. * 

Harmless enjoyment and healthful recreation depend 
chiefly on our ability to plan, choose, make adjustments, 
invent, organize, and decide when to stop ; in other words, 
on our ability to think rationally. 

The most practical and lasting kindness in family and 
community life has its foundation in the ability and will- 
ingness to think cooperatively. 

The success of a democratic government like ours is 
dependent on the practical thoughtfulness of its citizens, 
shown on the one hand in initiative and leadership, and 
on the other hand in ability to select the best leaders and 
follow them discriminatingly. 

A considerable and varied experience in public and pri- 
vate schools has convinced me that we have too often 



VI PREFACE 

neglected to train our pupils to think practically and 
effectively. As a result of this neglect much, if not most, 
of our work in the schoolroom has failed to produce in the 
lives of pupils those results for which we hoped ; namely, 
constructive labor, thoughtful kindliness, intelligent citi- 
zenship, and genuine happiness. ""^ 

The main purpose of this book is to discover the prin- 
cipal types of thinking which are required in everyday 
life, and to indicate practical ways and means for their 
development in the ordinary school. 

In discussing the various problems I have tried to give 
due recognition to important contributions available on 
this subject, both experimental and philosophical. I have 
also tried to write in such a manner as to avoid the ex- 
cessive use of technical terms and to avoid such modes of 
presentation as might trouble the general reader. 

It is a pleasant duty to acknowledge my great indebted- 
ness and to express my sincere appreciation to President 
Lotus D. Coffman of the University of Minnesota for a 
critical reading of the entire manuscript, and for the con- 
tribution of many important suggestions which have been 
embodied in the various chapters of this book. 

Julius Boraas 
Northfield, Minnesota, 

December seventh, 1921. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

The Greatest Thing in Teaching , 1 

Problem: What is the most important thing in successful 
teaching? 

Contents: The fame of Socrates as a teacher — His method 
— The importance of teaching in the affairs of ordinary life 
— The neglect of thinking in the ordinary school — The ab- 
sence of thought questions in examinations and recitations — 
Emphasis on thinking by educational writers — Types of think- 
ing to be developed — Thought exercises. 

CHAPTER II 

Thinking as an Efficient Form of Behavior 19 

Problem: What is the relation of thinking to general be- 
havior? 

Contents: Old and new views about mental life — Types 
and laws of behavior — Methods of acquiring skill — Types and 
laws of thinking — Exercises showing the relationship between 
thinking and behavior — Thinking as an "inner behavior" — 
Suggestions as to modes of developing skill in thinking — 
Thought exercises. 

CHAPTER III 

The Development of Individual Judgment 37 

Problem: How can a person develop skill in rendering 
accurate judgments? 

Contents: The place and importance of individual judg- 
ments in daily life — Possibility of developing skill in judging 
— Types of practical judgments — Suggestions for develop- 

vii 



Vlll CONTENTS 

PAGE 

ment of judging in schools — Methods for correcting individual 
judgments — ^Use of scales and measures — Score cards — ^Value 
of having pupils judge their own work — Thought exercises. 

CHAPTER IV 

The Development of Cooperative Thinking 53 

Problem: How can pupils be trained in cooperative think- 
ing? 

Contents: Common errors in individual judgments — Lack 
of exact standards for correcting judgments — The value of 
group judgments — The place of cooperative judgments in 
daily life — The lack of training in group thinking in schools 
— Suggestions for the development of group judgments — 
Various applications — Thought exercises. 

CHAPTER V 

The Value of Thinking as Others Think 75 

Problem: How is efficient thinking related to the thoughts 
of others as expressed in customs, traditions, and conven- 
tionalities? 

Contents: Physical heredity — ^Social heredity and its im- 
portance in relation to thought — Conventionality and its re- 
lations to efficient thinking — The values of the "common" 
branches — Reasons for thinking as others think — Education 
considered as a sharing in the spiritual heritage of the race 
— The relation between thinking and remembering — Summary 
— Thought exercises. 

CHAPTER VI 

The Development of Initiative in Thinking 89 

Problem: How can initiative in thinking be developed? 
Contents: The struggle for personal freedom of mind — 
Common forms of mental slavery — Initiative as a remedy — 
The development of initiative in schools — Initiative through 
curiosity and the asking of questions — ^Practical suggestions 
— ^Thought exercises. 



CONTENTS IX 

PAGE 

CHAPTER VII 

The Development of Imaginative Thinking 108 

Problem: How can initiative be increased by the develop- 
ment of imaginative thinking? 

Contents: Meaning of imaginative thinking — The im- 
portance of imaginative thinking in daily life — Its neglect in 
the schools — Suggestions for its development in connection 
with ordinary school work — Projects — Measurement of imagi- 
native thinking — Thought exercises. 

CHAPTER VIII 

Thinking and the Solution of Everyday Problems .... 132 
Problem: How will right thinking help to solve the com- 
mon problems of daily life? 

Contents: The schoolmaster ^^at large" — The nature and 
types of the common perplexities of life — Their chief char- 
acteristics — Their principal causes — Suggestions for the de- 
velopment of thinking about everyday problems — Thought 
exercises. 

CHAPTER IX 

The Development of Skill in Problem-Solving .... 155 
Problem: How can skill in problem-solving be developed? - 
Contents: Analysis of the process of problem-solving — 
Summary of experimental work and of general discussions — 
Inductive and deductive reasoning — Conditions which deter- 
mine the value of problems — ^Practical suggestions — Thought 
exercises. 

CHAPTER X 

The Development of Skill in Solving Long Problems . . . 177 
Problem: How can the school train its pupils to think 

effectively about long problems? 
Contents: The character of ordinary school problems — 

Importance of long problems in daily life — Training in think- 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

ing about long problems in connection with student or school 
activities apart from class work — The problem method of 
teaching — The choosing of a vocation as a valuable long 
problem — ^Suggestions for teaching pupils to think coopera- 
tively about this problem — Types of skill to be developed 
—Chief functions of the teacher — Thought exercises. 



CHAPTER XI 

The Development of Skill in Critical Thinking .... 200 
Problem: How can skill in critical thinking be developed? 
Contents: The nature of critical thinking and its function 
in life — Lack of its development in the ordinary school — 
Various objections — ^Practical suggestions for developing spe- 
cific types of critical thinking — Critical thinking in supervised 
study — Self-criticism— Summary — ^Thought exercises. 



CHAPTER XII 

Size op Vocabulary as a Measure of Thinking Ability . . . 217 
Problem: What is the relationship between ability in 
thinking and the mastery of a vocabulary? 

Contents: Methods of measuring various activities — ^The 
measuring of recognition vocabularies — The measuring of ac- 
tive vocabularies — Advantages of vocabulary tests for school 
work — Personal advantages for the teacher— Thought exercises. 

CHAPTER XIII 

Mental Alertness as a Measure of Efficiency in Thinking . 235 
Problem: How can ability in thinking be measured by 
the speed of a person^s mental operations? 

Contents : The factor of speed in the affairs of daily life — 
Slowness as a characteristic of feeble mentality — The measure- 
ment of speed in mental operations — Suggestions for the 
development of mental speed — Thought exercises. 



CONTENTS XI 

PAGE 

CHAPTER XIV 

Methods and Tools for Improving the Teacher's Efficiency in 

Thinking 252 

Problem: How can a teacher become more efficient in 
thinking about the problems of his profession? 

Contents: Efficiency through a correct attitude of mind — 
Efficiency by means of action — The value of analysis — Modern 
tools for securing accurate information about educational 
facts — Initiative — Critical thinking — Cooperative thinking — 
Thought exercises. 

Appendix A 275 

Appendix B '. . . . 276 

Appendix C 280 

Bibliography 281 



TEACHING TO THINK 



TEACHING TO THINK 



THE GREATEST THING IN TEACHING 

Can a person teach so well that the world will remem- 
ber him for twenty-three hundred years? 

One man did. His method is spoken of to this day. He 
had no diploma, no degree. For him were no school- 
room and no equipment, not even a teacher's desk. He 
gave no examinations, and did not trouble himself about 
grades or promotions. He just helped young people to 
think, that was all. But his doing this made him famous; 
and what was more, it made some of his pupils famous. 

Socrates met the youths of Athens wherever there was 
a chance for conversation and at any time of the day. 
Some of these youths came to him because they were in 
trouble. They felt rebellious against the prevailing blind 
acceptance of traditions and customs and found no satis- 
faction in the extravagant and often conflicting assertions 
of the Sophists. Socrates helped these young men to 
formulate their questions, to investigate, and to arrive 
at opinions of their own. There were other youths who 
came with the swagger and conceit of the ^^stand-patter'' 
or the iconoclast. They had no problems or difiiculties. 
On any topic they glibly quoted either traditional sayings 

1 



2 TEACHING TO THINK 

or the latest word of some noted Sophist. Socrates lis- 
tened patiently. Then very humbly he asked them to 
explain their views more fully so that he might better 
understand. The harder these youths tried to explain 
the more entangled and improbable their statements be- 
came. If they were manly young fellows they confessed 
their ignorance. Then the great teacher guided them to 
think carefully and persistently about their perplexities 
so as to arrive at a satisfactory solution and a well 
founded conviction. 

Socrates hated all sham and make-believe. He cared 
nothing for knowledge as a mere ornament. He did care 
for those things that make life a success. His favor- 
ite topics were, ^^Concerning what is pious, what im- 
pious; what is becoming, what unbecoming; what is 
just, what unjust; what is sanity, what insanity; what 
is fortitude, what cowardice; what a state is, and the 
character of a statesman; what is the nature of govern- 
ment over men, and the qualities of one skilled in govern- 
ing them.'' ^ ^^Of anything whose practical bearing was 
not at once manifest,'' says one writer, ''he was openly im- 
patient." ^ 
A Two classes of people hated Socrates. The "stand- 
patters" thought him an enemy of their most cherished 
traditions and of the existing order of things. The 
Sophists regarded him as an opponent of their personal 
views and ambitions. Neither group dared squarely to 
face the man who asked them to give reasons for traditions 
and opinions alike. 

* Bakewell. — Sourcebook in Ancient Philosophy, 91. 
"Rogers. — Student's History oj Philosophy, 52. 



THE GREATEST THING IN TEACHING 3 

So they accused him of leading the young men of 
Athens astray, put him in prison, and sentenced him to 
die. His friend Crito bribed the jailer, but Socrates 
refused to escape, saying, "Whatever inconvenience 
ensue, nothing is to be preferred before justice." 'The 
fame of this prison, the fame of the discourses there, and 
the drinking of the hemlock," says Emerson, "are one of 
the most precious passages in the history of the world." ^ 

The present world crisis has forced upon the youth 
of our time a situation not unlike that in which the young 
men of Athens found themselves. Customs and tradi- 
tions are losing their sway. Nothing is accepted merely 
because of its age. Venerable beliefs in science, politics, 
education, and religion are being questioned. Discoveries 
and inventions are being made with marvelous rapidity 
in many fields. There is a flood of new opinions and 
beliefs, many of which seem to contradict one another. 
How shall we be able to select the right from the wrong, 
the useful from the useless? What shall we do to save 
jOur souls from confusion? 

^-> We need a Socrates in every schoolroom; a teacher 
who can stimulate and guide his pupils to think honestly, 
persistently, and effectively about the important prob- 
lems of life. 

Do we really need such a teacher in every schoolroom? 
Will it not be suflGLcient that a few leaders be trained to 
think? ^There are by nature," says Thomdike, ^^many 
more learners than thinkers." ^ This statement seems 
to be true in general experience. If we observe any of 

* Emerson. — Representative Men, "Plato." 

^ Thomdike. — The Principles oj Teaching, 153. 



4 TEACHING TO THINK 

the fields of human activity we find that a few indi- 
viduals appear to do all the thinking and that they tell 
the rest of the people what to believe and what to do. The 
great majority willingly accept what the leaders say and 
follow them whithersoever they go. Human nature be- 
ing what it is and the laws of experience being what they 
are, shall we conclude that life for the great majority of 
individuals must be lived by custom and conventionality; 
}hat is, by habit rather than by thought? 
J One reply to this question is that, whatever a person's 
original nature may be, it is still possible for him to be 
molded and refined; and that, whatever general condi- 
tions may be, according to the present organization of 
society, it is not necessary that they should remain un- 
changed. Perhaps the reason why so few of us do our 
own thinking is that the schools never seriously at- 
tempted to teach us to think for ourselves. Perhaps the 
reason why so many of us are blind followers is that we 
have been trained to be blind followers. In seeking for 
a final and satisfactory answer to our question we must 
make an inquiry as to the importance of thinking in the 
affairs of daily life. 

Let us digress for a moment to consult our general 
experience regarding this matter. Let us think first of 
the conditions of our work. What is the most important 
factor of success in the various vocations of men and 
women? Is it physical strength or speed? Is it ability 
to repeat an action day after day without variation? Is 
it unusual memory of facts? Or, is it ability to see new 
objectives and to invent, adapt, and use labor-saving 
tools and methods for attaining one's purposes? Why 



THE GREATEST THING IN TEACHING 5 

are there so many misfits and failures in the various 
occupations? Are they due mainly to lack of special 
talent and opportunity? Or, are they caused by lack of 
forethought and judgment in the choice of, and prepara- 
tion for, a vocation? In other words, do we fail to work 
well mainly because we do not think well? 
J Consider next some of the problems of our leisure time. 
What is the chief difficulty in respect to recreation? Why 
do people indulge in harmful amusements? Is it because 
they are unable to think of anything better? What is 
the most basic element in neighborliness? Is kindliness 
and good will fundamentally good thought? What is 
the big requirement for an eflScient citizenship in a de- 
mocracy? Would there be any hope at all for a democ- 
racy consisting of thoughtless people? How about our 
moral and religious life? Compare the virtue of an act 
performed in blind obedience to a precept or command 
with one that springs from genuine insight and under- 
standing of moral relations. Compare the value of a 
religious observance which consists of a mechanical com- 
pliance with certain customs or conventions, or of violent 
emotional paroxysms, trances or phantasies, with the 
excellence of a religious life which springs from a careful 
meditation concerning the laws of spiritual life and a 
constant search for truth and which results in an intelli- 
gent fellowship and cooperation with God. 

What is the conclusion toward which we are driven? 
Is effective thinking a most, if not the most, important 
factor of successful living? Then what place should it 
have in our education? 

What place has it had in the past? The various edu- 



6 TEACHING TO THINK 

cational ideals most frequently mentioned in the history 
of education give no clear answer to this question. Cul- 
ture, general development, knowledge, discipline, skill, 
social eflficiency — as we regard them at the present time — 
would all include thinking as their most essential element. 
History does not indicate that they were generally so 
understood in the past. Undoubtedly there have at all 
times been exceptions, but the common practice has al- 
ways been that an education was to be acquired by 
memorizing and following the thoughts of others rather 
than by actual thinking. 

J What place is accorded to thinking in our schools of 
to-day? Several years of experience as a teacher and 
superintendent have convinced me that real thought exer- 
cises are exceedingly rare in ordinary school work. Nearly 
all the time and effort is spent in memorizing, in repeating 
what has been memorized, or in acquiring some form of 
skill by means of mechanical repetition. Occasionally 
apparent thought questions or thought exercises may 
occur; but even in these the thinking is done mostly by 
the teacher. They seldom cause a real perplexity or 
involve serious thought on the part gf the pupils. 

Any teacher can make a very illuminating investiga- 
tion by analyzing the examination questions which are 
given from time to time and finding the percentage of 
real thought questions that occur. Some time ago I 
made such an analysis of the questions which had been 
sent out by the High School Board of Minnesota during 
a series of years. High School Board examinations were 
uniform for the entire state; they were taken by pupils in 
the eighth grade and in high school classes in city schools, 



THE GREATEST THING IN TEACHING 7 

and also by a considerable number of pupils in rural 
schools. They represented fairly the standards of the 
state and were no doubt of better quality pedagogically 
than most of the local examination questions. The 
analysis was made by separating the questions into the 
following groups: (/(I) Evident memory questions, 
(2) Questions which might require some thought, but 
which could easily be answered from memory, (3) Ques- 
tions clearly intended to require thought, (4) Miscellane- 
ous questions which it was impossible to classify. The 
results are given in the following table. 

Table I. 

Analysis of the State High School Board Examination Ques- 
tions Given in Minnesota Schools During the Years 

1899-1912. 







cc 


CO 


CO 


CO 






H 




si 


K 


s§ 


^3 


§ 


«si 


O ^ 


o ^ 
.3 (» 


H g M 


5r. 


m 



n 


^ <a 


. m 


S S! 


25 H 


2 H 


oc 


p 


< x2 


o t> 


S 3 


-^ n:; & 


K P 




02 


O K &^ 


;?; <y 


S C? 


Ph &^ o* 


^ & 


^ 


Geography 


'99-'03, '06, '08-^12, 
'14-'15 


86 


68 


18 






Physiology 


'99-'03, 06, '08-'12, 
'14, '15 


96 


77 


19 






U. S. His- 


'00-'03, '06, '08-'12, 


106 


72 


28 


4 


2 


tory 


'14, '15 












Civics 


'99-'01, '03, '06 


170 


130 


30 


2 


8 




'08-'12, '14, '15 












Totals 




458 


347 


95 


6 


10 


Per Cent 




100 


76 


21 


1 


2 



In order to corroborate the results obtained by analyz- 
ing the High School Board Examination questions, a 
similar analysis was made of a number of state examina- 



8 



TEACHING TO THINK 



tion questions for teachers' certificates. These exami- 
nations were offered by the Department of Public In- 
struction and were uniform for the entire state. As to 
quality they were no doubt fairly representative of 
similar examination questions in other states. The re- 
sults of the analysis are given in Table II. 



Table II. 

Analysis of Teachers' State Examination Questions Given in 
Minnesota During the Years 1907-1914. 







05 


02 


OS 


OQ 






fe i. 


^ 


!z; 


^ ^ 


f^ 52i 




o 


<^g 


^2 


^^ 


g§ 


H o 


•i 


m 


i^g 


o^ 




^§s 


g" 




pq 


^ ^a 


. w 


tf 2 H 


O H 




j3 


-«i M 2 


O p 


S t3 


<«< W C3 


« D 




OQ 


« B H 


^ <y 


g c? 


Pu H (y 


S 5 


s 


Geography 


'07-^14 


102 


68 


15 


13 


6 


Physiology 


a a 


101 


73 


23 


2 


3 


U. S. History 


a a 


113 


85 


15 


6 


7 


Civics 


u a 


114 


97 


15 


1 


1 


Totals 




430 


323 


68 


22 


17 


Per Cent 




100 


75 


16 


5 


4 



The results of the two analyses show that only about 
five per cent of the questions were thought questions 
while seventy-five per cent were of the memory type. 
This result is in general agreement with the findings of 
other investigators. In a report by Colvin is found the 
following summary: 

"I have recently analyzed five hundred questions asked by 
teachers in their first year of high school experience. These 
questions I have taken at random from a much larger number 
that I have observed and recorded. Out of this total number, 
I have found about five per cent that could be considered 
genuine thought questions. Over one-quarter required no 
more definite answer than yes or no. Over three-quarters 



THE GREATEST THING IN TEACHING 9 

were purely informational or quiz questions. About twenty 
per cent were so suggestive in their phrasing that they were 
questions in form only/' ^ 



a 



In another report Colvin states that out of ninety-five 
questions asked in a class period in which the topic 
considered was the development of a spirit of national 
unity in Greece, ninety-two were fact questions. During 
one hundred and eight minutes given to the study of 
Julius Ccesar he found that three hundred and seventy- 
six fact questions were asked.^ 

As an exception to the almost uniform absence of 
thought questions in the average recitation, Colvin states 
that he found some classes in history in which the per- 
centage of thought questions was as high as sixty.^ 

Miss Stevens gives the following report of her inves- 
tigations: 

''If you ask teachers in history why they are teaching it, the 
most customary answer is, that 'history develops judgment.' 
In hundreds of classrooms where I have made observations 
of questioning, I have found very few questions so framed by 
teachers of history that they called for any individual judg- 
ment. ... I have found such questions as this: 'Was the king 
right in imposing the stamp tax upon the colonists?' This 
sounds like the appeal for a possible judgment by the pupils, 
but it can not be a real judgment when the pages of all the 
texts distinctly reveal marked censure of the king. . . . 
Analysis of six stenographic lesson reports on. history reveals 
the fact that, by classifying as a judgment question every one 
which could possibly involve the element of judgment, the 

' Colvin.— "The Most Common Faults of Beginning High School 
Teachers"; School and Society, 8: 461-9, 1918. 
^Colvin. — An Introduction to High School Teaching, 313. 
'Ibid., 31. 



10 TEACHING TO THINK 

highest attainment is twenty-eight in a total of one hundred 
and twenty-five, while the lowest record was three in sixty. "^ 

This agrees closely with the findings already men- 
tioned. 

y It is evident from these reports, which can easily be 
verified by anyone who will visit a number of classes or 
analyze the questions given in a number of recitations or 
examinations, that thought questions constitute a very 
small part of our school work. No doubt there are ex- 
ceptional teachers here and there who vdevote themselves 
to the development in their pupils of the ability to think 
clearly and effectively. However, the great majority of 
teachers are satisfied with the mere memorizing of given 
facts and principles. 

If we examine the writings of educational leaders we 
find that thinking is given a prominent place. One writer 
says: 

'The problem is how to force children to think. Work will 
then take care of itself. The desire to answer questions that 
seem to contradict knowledge and experience and which will 
not down until the apparent contradiction has been removed, 
is what is wanted in school. When this attitude is produced 
and responsibility put upon the pupils, they develop the power 
to start things and carry them through.'^ ^ 

The same general idea is expressed by an English 
writer: 

"All teaching which does not stimulate real and careful 
thinking makes for stupidity. It may be the stupidity which 

* Stevens. — The Question as a Measure of Efficiency in Instruction, 
TeacheiG College, 59. 
^ Swift. — Learning by Doing, 64. 



THE GREATEST THING IN TEACHING 11 

in later life shows itself in obstinate prejudice. Often this 
euphemistically disguises itself under the name of conscience, 
or party loyalty. Its essence is that the mind is closed against 
all considerations which oppose its belief. Even facts must 
give way before it, or at any rate, the records of impalpable 
facts is not accepted. . . . Such an attitude of mind takes 
conviction as a test of truth, ignoring the fact that others hold 
exactly the opposite view with equally firm assurance." ^ 

In his survey of instruction, the course of study, and the 
supervision in the New York City School Inquiry^ 
Frank McMurry announces four standards by which the 
work was measured. They are (1) Motive on the part 
of the pupils, (2) Consideration of 'values by the pupils, 

(3) Attention to organization of ideas by the pupils, 

(4) Initiative by the pupils. Notice the emphasis on 
thought and the absence of any mention of memorizing. 

Flexner in his proposal for A Modern School sum- 
marizes the aims of the various school subjects in the 
following words: 

'^But in the end, if the Modern School is to be adequate to 
the need of modern life, this concrete training must produce 
sheer intellectual power. Abstract thinking has perhaps never 
before played so important a part in life as in this material- 
istic and scientific world of ours — this world of railroads, 
automobiles wireless telegraphy, and international relation- 
ships. Our problems involve indeed concrete data and present 
themselves in concrete forms ; but, back of the concrete details, 
lie difficult and involved intellectual processes. Hence the 
realistic education we propose must eventuate in intellectual 
power. We must not only cultivate the child's interests, 
sensesi^ and practical skill, but we must also train him to in- 
terpret what he thus gets to the end that he may not only be 

* Welton. — The Psychology of Education, 392. 
^McMurry. — Elementary School Standards, Ch. II. 



12 TEACHING TO THINK 

able to perceive and to do, but that he may know in intellectual 
terms the significance of what he has perceived and done. 
The Modern School would prove a disappointment, unless 
greater intellectual power is procurable on the basis of a 
realistic training than has been procured from a formal educa- 
tion, which is prematurely intellectual and to no slight extent 
a mere make-beheve.'^ ^ 

What are the aspects of thinking which we should 
especially attempt to develop in our schools? 
V^Tirst of all we ought to become very clear in our own 
minds as to the relationship between thinking and gen- 
eral behavior. If ideas and thoughts are tools to be used 
for accomplishing things and if thinking itself is a strug- 
gle for success and for mastery, then we ought to teach 
our pupils to think in such a manner that they will suc- 
ceed in the practical affairs of daily life. 
vYears ago, when books were scarce and libraries few, 
mastery in any subject was achieved by memorizing the 
facts included in that subject. Now the situation is 
entirely different. Encyclopedias, digests, and handbooks 
are common tools. Mastery of a subject means general 
knowledge of the field and ability to find exact informa- 
tion quickly when it is wanted. In other words, it means 
ability to use information rather than to memorize. It 
means a command of facts vastly more extensive and 
decidedly more reliable than that which was obtained by 
the old method. Just compare the mastery of fact repre- 
sented by a well stored memory with that represented 
by a good encyclodepia at one's elbow. Compare the 
mastery of a business that can be obtained by trying to 

^Flexner.— ^ Modern School, 10. 



THE GREATEST THING IN TEACHING 13 

remember all the details about the various transactions 
with the mastery secured through an efficient system of 
bookkeeping. If one's memory is put up against a vest 
pocket memorandum, it is safer to bet on the mem- 
orandum. 

v^he memorizing of facts in any vocation practically 
takes care of itself. Those facts which are frequently 
used will by their repetition be learned and retained in 
the memory of the worker; those which are seldom used 
will be forgotten and can be better preserved in a card 
file. There is no getting away from this law of repetition 
as a determiner of what we are to remember. What has 
become of all the facts that we committed to memory 
and could repeat acceptably in school examinations? 
They have deserted by squads, companies, and regiments 
because they were never called into actual service after 
inspection day. It is true that some things which happen 
only once in a lifetime are remembered ever afterward ; 
but most of the things which we were asked about in 
examinations did not seem to have that degree of vivid- 
ness or importance. 

The ability to exercise good judgment in regard to 
aflfairs of practical life is an important element of suc- 
cessful living and should be emphasized much more than 
it has been in our schools. Who does most of the judging 
in the ordinary school? But will any amount of practice 
by the teacher develop skill in the pupils? Would any 
practical teacher of agriculture to-day expect to develop 
his students into good judges of corn or stock by doing 
all the judging himself? There is a crying need for better 
methods in the development of this type of thinking in 



14 TEACHING TO THINK 

connection with the teaching of the ordinary school sub- 
jects and the management of school activities generally. 

We must do better than we have done in training our 
pupils to appreciate and use the important thoughts of 
the group and nation to which they belong. In other 
words, we must train them to think as others think; not 
blindly or slavishly, but with an intelligent appreciation 
of the ''big thoughts/' the 'long thoughts" of the race. 
Our schools must train for a successful and happy group 
life in which thinking is a method of adjustment between 
the individual and the group. 

All effective thinking is creative in the sense that it is 
not a mere repetition of something learned. It is a varia- 
tion, an adaptation, an invention. When an individual 
or a group experiences a real perplexity, it means that 
mere repetition of what has been done before no longer 
avails. It is necessary that someone "start something'^ ; 
that is, propose new methods or means. Time was when 
the surest way for a boy to land in the "corner" or to be 
kept after school was to "start something" not in the 
regular schedule or school routine. Now "self-starters" 
are beginning to be appreciated. Yet, even now, there are 
timid persons who say that if we let the pupils have the 
privilege of initiative in school, they will invent many 
things that will prove worthless. So they will, no doubt, 
and that is a very good reason why such inventions should 
be made in school where the 'pupils can learn, with the 
least amount of waste and harm, to distinguish between 
starting something worth while and starting something 
that wiirbe useless or harmful. The real danger is that 
if a pupil is not allowed to originate anything during all 



THE GREATEST THING IN TEACHING 15 

the years he is in school, he will never be able to show 
the initiative which is required for success. 
"^ Problem solving must continue to be one of the im- 
portant aspects of thought training. However, we must 
develop better methods for securing this training than 
those which are used in the ordinary school. We must 
select more vital problems for the pupils to solve. Then, 
too, we must discover methods for making the pupils 
consciously clear as to the best methods and means for 
solving the different types of problems. We must also 
give our pupils more practice in the solving of long prob- 
lems, such as will take not only days but weeks and 
months for their solution. Success in life requires ^^long- 
headedness.'^ Most of our school work has been a train- 
ing for the opposite. 

V Efficiency in thought requires broadmindedness and 
ability to exercise criticism. We must do much more 
than we have done to develop these characteristics in 
the thinking of our pupils. How can this be accom- 
plished? It can be done only by practice in thinking 
about affairs that involve a large number of considera- 
tions which the pupil must judge as to their relative 
values. It requires practice in dealing with questions 
and problems about which there are differences of opin- 
ion, and in the solution of which success depends on a 
fair appreciation of such opinions and a tactful adjust- 
ment of differences. This means that we must let^ — no, 
that is not strong enough — we must require our pupils 
to think about the large problems of the school and take 
a part in carrying forward the general management of 
the institution. Many teachers object to such a proposi- 



16 TEACHING TO THINK 

tion on the ground that the pupils are too immature to 
have any appreciation or insight as to problems involving 
wide considerations. To let them have any share in the 
general management of the school would lead to the 
making of mistakes and lessen the eflficiency of the insti- 
tution. All of which probably is quite true. But what 
is the real purpose of our work as teachers anyway? Is 
it to make the school perfect as an institution or to make 
the pupils a success? 

Does this mean that the teacher will cease to be the 
manager of his school? By no means. Rather it means 
that he must become a very skillful and efficient man- 
ager. Which is easier, to tell pupils how to behave, or 
to so manage the school that they will, of their own ac- 
cord, learn to behave and want to do so? Which is 
easier, to tell pupils what to believe and say, or to interest 
them in problems of such vital importance as to compel 
investigation, solution, and verification and thus lead 
their minds to convictions of their own — convictions 
which are right because the teacher saw to it that all the 
essential facts were met? 

To the timid and reticent teacher this whole topic of 
training pupils to think for themselves opens a world 
of difficulties and perplexities. To the one who is anxious 
to be more than a hearer of lessons and a keeper of order, 
who is ambitious to become an expert in his profession, 
it means the very essence of teaching. It is the touch- 
stone by which he tests himself as to whether he is a real 
teacher or a mere hireling. And though it tries his very 
soul he is not discouraged, for he calls to mind that one 
man did attain to this ideal in teaching, and that the 



THE GREATEST THING IN TEACHING 17 

world has looked back with appreciation upon that teach- 
ing for twenty-three hundred years. 

The following chapters will deal with practical ways 
and means for promoting what someone has called the 
''most important strictly private business''; but which 
may with equal truth also be called the most important 
business of the public in a democracy — thinking. How- 
ever, before going to our next topic I have one suggestion 
to make. An interesting writer says that, in reading, a 
person should give one hour of thought to every hour of 
reading, claiming that this would ''certainly be more 
beneficial than two hours devoted entirely to reading." ^ 
The exercises which follow are offered as suggestions for 
beginning the hour of thinking. 



THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. What danger is there, if any, that teachers may depend 
too much on courses of study, textbooks, and equipment for 
the efficiency of their work? In an ideal school, should all the 
equipment be furnished or should some of it be constructed 
by the pupils? If the pupils feel no stimulus toward con- 
structing any tools or devices for their work, what conclusion 
would be warranted? 

2. Is thinking really such an important factor in practical 
life as this discussion tries to prove? If you doubt it, try to 
find some other factor more important. If you believe it, 
find other — ^yes, and better — illustrations than those that have 
been given. 

3. Gather as many examination questions as you can and 
analyze them for the percentage of thought questions. What 
do you conclude? How do your own questions measure up? 

4. Are the standards used by McMurry in the New York 

*Hazlitt. — Thinking as a Science, 140. 



18 TEACHING TO THINK 

Inquiry fair? Are they too radical? Should teachers gen- 
erally try to live up to them? 

5. Is the idea about mastery of facts right or wrong? 
Which is the more valuable for a teacher, mastery of facts 
or the memorizing of facts? Test also by application to other 
vocations and to specific situations in life. 

6. Count the number of questions asked by the teacher and 
the number of questions asked by the pupils during an hour 
or half a day. What is the conclusion? If you could have a 
school in which the teacher asked all the questions, good ques- 
tions, or in which the pupils asked all the questions, also good 
questions, which would you prefer? 

7. The author^s comment about letting pupils "start some- 
thing" is entirely wrong, isn't it? How else might pupils be 
trained in initiative? 

8. Is it practical to let the pupils have a share in making 
plans for school entertainments? Suppose there were fifty 
entertainments planned by the teachers alone and fifty enter- 
tainments planned by the pupils under the guidance of their 
teachers, which group of fifty would result in the greater 
number of real successes? 

9. Make a list of problems or perplexities that occur in 
daily life. Make another list of problems that are used in 
the ordinary school. How do they compare? 

10. Professor Rapeer gives the following list of aims, or 
"goods" of life and of education: 

(1) Self-preservation; (2) Race-preservation; (3) Associa- 
tion, including all that makes social organization, social co- 
operation, and social happiness, through group activities, ad- 
vance to a higher plane; (4) Emancipation from fear; (5) 
Individual growth and self-realization.^ What part must 
thinking play in the realization of these aims for the indi- 
vidual and for the group? 

* Rapeer. — Teaching Elementary School Subjects, 10. 



II 



THINKING AS AN EFFICIENT FORM OF 

BEHAVIOR 

How is thinking related to behavior? Is it a process 
entirely different in nature from sensation, memory, in- 
stinct, habit, and other activities, or is it similar to and 
closely related to them? 

The common view held in the past by psychologists 
and by people generally was that thinking is an activity 
entirely different from and higher in kind than all other 
mental activities. The mind was regarded as made up 
of a number of ^^faculties.'' Thinking was considered as 
the highest of these, was called Reason, and this word 
was spelled with a capital R. With this conception of 
the mind it was natural to think of education as a 
process through which the various ^'faculties" could be 
strengthened. As it was observed that a man could in- 
crease the power of his arm by exercising it, so it was 
assumed that a person could train his memory, or imagi- 
nation, or reasoning by exercising these "faculties'' on 
the various school tasks. 

Modern psychology has very little to say about facul- 
ties of the mind. It regards the mind as a unit or organ- 
ization which is able to function in a multitude of 
ways. According to the statement of Dewey there are 

19 



20 TEACHING TO THINK 

"a great number of original native tendencies, instinctive 
modes of action, based on the original connections of neurones 
in the central nervous system. These are impulsive ten- 
dencies of the eyes to follow and fixate light; of the neck 
muscles to turn toward light and sound; of the hands to grasp 
and turn and twist and thump ; of the vocal apparatus to make 
sounds; of the mouth to gag and to spew out unpleasant 
substances and to curl the lip, and so on in almost indefinite 
number. But these tendencies (a) instead of being a small 
number sharply marked from one another, are of an indefinite 
variety, interweaving with one another in all kinds of subtle 
ways, (b) Instead of being latent intellectual powers, requir- 
ing only exercise for their perfecting, they are tendencies to 
respond in certain ways to changes in the environment so as 
to bring about other changes.^' ^ 

The old and general view emphasized the difference 
between the body and the mind. The development of 
physiological psychology has shown the intimate rela- 
tionship between physical and mental life. No one can 
tell where the physiological aspects of an action end and 
where the mental aspects begin. The recognition of this 
close relationship opened a new and exceedingly fruitful 
field of investigation. Students could assume that the 
laws which were found to operate in the physical or- 
ganism would operate also in mental life. This made it 
possible to attack the problems of psychology experi- 
mentally. So valuable has this method been that the 
results of a few years of such work far exceed those of 
many centuries of speculation. 

The old view of psychology with its emphasis on con- 
sciousness depended on introspection for its chief method 
of investigation. As no one could "look into" any mind 

* Dewey. — Democracy in Education, 73. 



THINKING AS AN EFFICIENT FORM OF BEHAVIOR 21 

but his own, there was nothing more to do than for each 
student to describe his own mental life and to assume 
that the lives of others were like his own. While this 
method lent itself to ^'extend discourse/^ it gave the 
student little or no control over the minds of others. 

The new view of psychology with its emphasis on the 
unity of mental and physical life, while not disregard- 
ing the method of introspection, depends chiefly on ob- 
servation of the behavior of others for its information. 
Students find that by applying a specific stimulus to a 
person certain specific reactions may be expected. This 
opens the way for definite control of human behavior and 
is exactly the kind of psychology which a teacher needs 
to study. 

Without attempting anything like a complete state- 
ment of the main facts of the psychology of behavior, it 
seems necessary here for the sake of orientation to sum- 
marize those which are, for our particular purpose, the 
most significant. 

TYPES AND LAWS OF BEHAVIOR 

Behavior may be regarded from several viewpoints, 
and as a result we speak of it as being of different types. 
It is well, however, when we speak of different types of 
anything to bear in mind that they are the results of the 
several viewpoints taken. If a person looks at a building 
from the south, west, north, east, and top, and as a con- 
sequence speaks of the south, west, north, east, and top 
sides as being entirely different one from another, it does 
not follow that the whole building is broken into five 
disconnected sections. 



22 TEACHING TO THINK 

When behavior is regarded from the physiological 
viewpoint it resolves itself into a stimulus of some sort 
followed by a reaction, both of which may be relatively 
simple or complex. Some of the simpler forms of such 
behavior are called tropisms, a term which designates the 
direct reactions of organism to external forces. Among 
the tropisms most frequently mentioned are the turning 
toward or away from light, reactions to the various colors, 
to gravity, chemical substances, electricity, water, and 
currents of water, currents of air, heat, and sound. 

If a certain behavior is studied with regard to how it 
originated we may call it instinctive or habitual. To 
say that an act is instinctive means that it is performed 
without previous practice, as, for example, the sucking 
movements of babies. To say that an act is habitual 
means that it has been acquired by practice, as, for ex- 
ample, the movements in writing one's name. It would 
be erroneous to suppose, however, that there is a sharp 
distinction between instincts and habits. Many instinc- 
tive actions are perfected by practice. Note, for example, 
the pecking of chicks, the flying of young birds, the walk- 
ing of children. Many so-called habits are instinctive 
actions which have been fixed and perfected by many 
repetitions. 

If behavior is considered with respect to the amount 
of consciousness which it involves, one will notice that 
some actions are performed without our being aware of 
them at all. We are dimly or vaguely conscious of some. 
Others require the most concentrated attention. It is 
surprising to find how many important activities take 
place without our being aware of them. The eyelids 



THINKING AS AN EFFICIENT FORM OF BEHAVIOR 23 

wink, the heart beats, the lungs breathe, the stomach and 
intestines do their work, the various glands contribute 
their secretions, the pores of the skin open or close with- 
out our being conscious of them in the least. Only when 
there is trouble do we become aware of these forms of 
behavior and then only vaguely. 

As a general rule it is true that the more perfectly 
habitual an act becomes the less we are conscious of it. 
A very large portion of our daily life is given to habitual 
behavior which is performed almost automatically and 
with a minimum of consciousness. This being so^ as 
anyone can very readily determine by recalling all the 
actions performed during a single day or part of a day, 
will it not follow that the schools ought to devote a 
similar portion of their time to the cultivation of habits? 
Then development of thinking must receive a minor 
place in the school program and — well what becomes of 
the idea that the development of thinking is the greatest 
thing in teaching? 

Suppose, for the sake of argument, that ninety per 
cent of our daily behavior is habitual and takes care of 
itself without our giving it any thought; may it not yet 
be possible that the quality and importance of the re- 
maining ten per cent of thoughtful behavior can be such 
as more than to outweigh the larger quantity of the 
other? One moment given to constructive thought may 
determine a course of action and groups of habits which 
will occupy us for a long time. Habits are like the rails, 
moments of thought are like the opening and closing of 
switches. The former seems to constitute the main part 
of the railroad, but the operation of the latter changes 



24 TEACHING TO THINK 

the lines of rails into a system which multiplies by many 
times their efficiency for transportation. If the world is 
so constituted that it changes a little from day to day and 
if we ourselves change a little, it is quite likely that the 
adjustment of these changes is the principal factor in our 
success or failure in life. 

How is habitual behavior acquired? A very simple 
exercise will answer this question. Take a piece of ruled 
writing paper and place it on the bureau or sideboard in 
such a position that it can easily be seen by looking into 
the mirror. Now take a pencil and without looking 

«x.Rt^ W^^!> ^Vr^ 

Fig. 1. 

directly at your hand or at the paper, but looking all the 
time at the paper as it appears in the mirror, write the 
letters a b c ten times, trying as hard as you can to im- 
prove both in the speed and quality of the writing. Hav- 
ing someone keep a record of the time adds interest to 
the exercise. In order to examine the results the paper 
must be held against the light and be looked through 
from behind. 



THINKING AS AN EFFICIENT FORM OF BEHAVIOR 25 

It took me just five minutes to write the letters ten 
times and the results, as you will notice from Figure 1, 
on page 24, are nothing to brag about. 

Upon examination of the results of my efforts, I find 
that the letters look very stiff and cramped, showing that 
the pencil was held very tightly. There is a large number 
of little kinks and crooks, showing that many unnecessary 
movements were made. Of course! didn't it take five 
minutes of hard work to accomplish the task? The writ- 
ing improved as the practice progressed, but the improve- 
ment was far from continuous or uniform. There were 
relapses at several points. Notice the fourth b. It is 
poorer than the first one. 

But the writing does not tell the whole story. If some- 
one had watched me while the writing was being done 
he would have noticed that my entire body was tense 
and active. I shifted position several times. There was 
a bending toward the task with occasional relaxations. 
The eyes stared at the reflection in the mirror. Several 
times there were incipient movements of the eyes toward 
the paper itself. The muscles of the face gave expression 
to the success or failure of the hand. In other words, it 
was my whole self that worked, not merely the right hand. 

It used to be thought that we learn to do things by 
putting together what we know before. So in teaching 
writing, children were set to making simple marks of 
various sorts which later were to be combined into letters. 
There may be cases in which learning proceeds wholly 
or partly in this manner ; but the ordinary way of learn- 
ing things is as typified in the exercise just performed. 
At first there is more or less general confusion. Then 



26 TEACHING TO THINK 

there are a large number of random and apparently un- 
necessary movements. Gradually the attention of the 
learner centers on certain ones of these which seem to be 
more successful and satisfying than the others. These 
movements are repeated while the others are gradually 
eliminated, but may recur from time to time. 

Notice how a person learns to ride a bicycle. He holds 
on to the handlebars for dear life. He pushes and pulls. 
He kicks and climbs. His eyes stare and his face twitches. 
The whole man works. After a few minutes he is as 
tired as if he had made a century run. By and by he 
begins to omit the useless movements and may j&nally 
become so skillful that he can glide down the road while 
apparently sitting perfectly still, and even without touch- 
ing the handlebars. 

The learner's attitude has much to do with his success 
or failure in acquiring skill. If one is physically well, 
feels interested in the work, realizes the value of the task, 
and is anxious to improve,^ progress is generally rapid. 
Practice without intention to learn or improve brings little 
or no result. The listless or careless person is as likely to 
repeat the useless movements as the useful ones, and no 
amount of repetition of useless movements will produce 
skill. It is not always true that practice makes perfect. 

Suggestions from others may be of value, especially if 
they encourage the learner to make further attempts or 
if they point out at the right time which movements 
should be eliminated and which should be emphasized. 
However, most persons rely too much on the help of 
others. They would accomplish more by trying to do 
more for themselves. 



THINKING AS AN EFFICIENT FORM OF BEHAVIOR 27 

The following suggestions summarize the most impor- 
tant information available about the acquisition of motor 
skill: 

1. Get the right attitude toward the task to be accom- 
plished ; that is, get a specific aim which is to be attained. 
Strengthen the interest in this aim by contact with per- 
sons who are enthusiastic about it. 

2. Start promptly and energetically no matter how 
unsuccessful the first attempt promises to be. Random 
movements and mistakes constitute a part of the learning 
process. 

3. Practice with a will to learn. Watch for success- 
ful movements. Try to eliminate unnecessary move- 
ments. 

4. Get suggestions from others, but do not depend on 
them too much. They may not fit your case. Try them 
to discover whether they work or not. 

5. Watch the results of your practice and measure the 
amount of improvement from time to time in order to 
keep interested. If possible represent your progress by 
a learning curve. 

6. Avoid excitement, confusion, and worry. 

In order to make these suggestions stand out more 
clearly it may be worth while to state them negatively: 

How Not to Learn to Do Things 

1. Regard the task as worthless. Avoid persons, books, 
and papers that might stimulate interest in it. 

2. Hesitate to make a first attempt. You might make 
some mistake. Wait until you can work without making 
any mistakes. 



28 TEACHING TO THINK 

3. Do not practice much. If you do practice, do not 
think about whether you improve or not. Just try to 
get through the practice period as easily as possible. 
Watch the clock. 

4. Do not listen to suggestions from anyone. 

5. Do not try to measure the amount of improvement. 
There will be none. 

6. Seek entertainment and excitement. Think of 
something else than the task to be accomplished. 

TYPES AND LAWS OF THINKING 

We are now in position to advance a working hypoth- 
esis about the nature and laws of thinking. If thinking 
is closely related and similar to behavior, it will show 
some of the same characteristics. This means that it 
will appear to be of different types, according to the view- 
points from which it may be considered, and that its 
development will follow more or less closely the general 
laws of behavior. 

Regarded from the standpoint of outward activity, 
thinking is an inward activity. '^Stop and think'^ does 
not mean that all activity shall cease, but refers merely 
to outward work. In this sense recalling past experi- 
ences, imagining new things, solving a problem, systema- 
tizing a mass of details, constructing an argument, and 
judging of values are all classed as thinking. 

When contrasted with sensations, thinking means the 
ability to recall past experiences, imagine new combina- 
tions, grasp meanings, and pass judgments. 

From the standpoint of a perplexity to be met, think- 



THINKING AS AN EFFICIENT FORM OF BEHAVIOR 29 

ing is not regarded as separated from sensations, but 
means the ability to apprehend the nature of the per- 
plexity and to devise some scheme for avoiding or mas- 
tering it. 

To a manager of affairs thinking means ability to 
secure order in a mass of details. 

To a merchant it means ability to judge of values. 

To a scientist it means ability to discover and grasp a 
problem and to hold it in mind for a considerable time 
while materials are gathered, sifted, and organized into a 
satisfactory solution, and the solution tested as to its 
accuracy and adequacy. 

To a debater or lawyer it means the ability to con- 
struct a convincing argument. 

To the judge it means the ability to define and to 
discriminate. 

To a philosopher it means the ability to see common 
elements in apparently differing or contrasting groups 
of ideas. 

Other types could be mentioned. The point is that 
one can find as many types as there are viewpoints from 
which thinking can be regarded, and that the ^^types'' 
are due to the viewpoints rather than to actual demark- 
ations in the thinking process. The thinking involved 
in a given situation may include some or all of the char- 
acteristics that have been mentioned; and, while in a 
general way one may distinguish it from sensation and 
behavior, there is really no line of demarkation where 
one activity ceases and the other begins. 

A very good illustration of the close relation of think- 
ing to behavior may be had by watching children of 



30 TEACHING TO THINK 

' different ages play Hide and Seek. The little fellow who 
is to find the hidden ones for the first time works out 
his problem mainly through his feet. He runs hither 
and thither without plan and without any regard for his 
exposing the goal. An older and experienced boy solves 
the problem mainly by headwork. Even while counting 
he calls to mind the usual hiding places and makes 
guesses as to where each one of his playmates is likely 
to go. He begins his search by carefully looking around 
in all directions and particularly scrutinizing certa;in 
spots for the appearance of a head or a bit of color. He 
knows that he is being watched and he pretends to start 
off in a certain direction only to return very quickly 
when he thinks someone has ventured from hiding. It 
is a game of strategy rather than of running, a work of 
the head rather than of the legs. How, then, is thinking 
related to outward behavior in this game? Thinking is 
the outward activity transferred to the central station. 
The thinker makes all the runs mentally and recalls 
from experience the results that each one will bring. 
Any stage in this transfer of activity can be seen by ob- 
serving children of different grades of development. In 
no case is the problem solved exclusively by outward or 
inward activity. It is always a combination of the two. 
Thinking itself is a form of behavior. 

Lest someone find it difficult to accept the statement 
that thinking is a form of behavior, an inner behavior, 
because such a statement appears to oppose the belief 
usually held, that thinking is entirely different from 
bodily activity, I shall take the risk of being prolix and 
mention another illustration. Suppose the following 



THINKING AS AN EFFICIENT FORM OF BEHAVIOR 31 

situation : In a room is an empty box measuring nine 
by fifteen by seventeen inches. In an adjoining room 
there is a pile of small packages, each four by five by 
seven inches. The problem is to find how many of the 
small packages can be put into the large box. How will 
different persons solve such a problem? One person will 
do it in this way: he will carry the packages to the box 
and proceed at once to put them in. When the box is 
full he may discover that there are certain spaces left 
an^ he may resolve to try again and to use another 
method for placing the packages. If they were laid on 
the side the first time he may set them on end the 
second time. Another person who depends more on head 
work will take the big box into the room where the smaU 
packages are, set it conveniently in order to save work, 
and discover the best method for placing the packages 
by using only a few of them. A person skilled in head- 
work will picture to himself how the little packages will 
fit into the big box if placed in this or that position. He 
may take his pencil and make a few marks on a piece of 
paper and when he is through he answers "Fifteen'' with- 
out having touched any of the boxes. The point is that, 
in a certain sense, he did everything that the others did, 
the only difference being that he worked with his head 
while they worked with their hands. 

Eflficiency in management means the ability to go 
through an action or a series of actions and to picture to 
oneself the results without actually performing the work 
outwardly. Watch a foreman and his crew at any kind 
of work. The foreman seems to be doing nothing. He 
merely points here and there and gives orders. The men 



32 TEACHING TO THINK 

toil and perspire. Yet he is actually doing more than 
they, for he is carrying out not only the work of one 
man but of every man in the whole crew and is so far 
ahead of each man that he can tell him how to follow. 
Watch an architect draw the plans for a house. He builds 
the whole house and knows just how it will look when 
finished. The difference between the architect and the 
carpenter is that what one builds by means of headwork 
with comparatively little physical labor, the other must 
expend much time and energy to build with his hands. 

Emerson said that thinking is the hardest thing in the 
world. It is also the thing which gives us the most ease 
by enabling us to perform our tasks with the least amount 
of labor. It is a wonder that so few people make it their 
business. 

It is interesting to note the relation of thinking to 
outward activity in the development of civilization. The 
primitive man solves his problems largely through the 
work of his hands and feet. He makes many random 
and unnecessary movements. Gradually he begins to 
accumulate memories of specific acts that proved satisfy- 
ing and of others that resulted in failure and annoyance. 
When an occasion for action again presents itself he re- 
calls his previous experience and performs only those 
acts which brought satisfaction. If his present difficulty 
is similar to his former experience this method brings 
him success. If it is a new kind of difficulty and only 
apparently similar to his former experience, he may find 
that his recall of the past is of no avail. He then resorts 
to the original method of ^^trial and error." Memories 
are the habits of the ^^nner" behavior, produced and 



THINKING AS AN EFFICIENT FORM OF BEHAVIOR 33 

operating in the very same manner as the habits of the 
''outer'' behavior. Most, or perhaps all, of the "inner'' 
behavior developed from the ''outer" behavior. 

If one considers the history of the various trades and 
industries the same development is apparent. They 
began in some form of handwork. The degree of ad- 
vancement to which they have attained is directly pro- 
portional to the change manifested from handwork to 
headwork. The civilization of a group or a people ad- 
vances as a larger and larger number of persons become 
able to transfer a part or all of their work from their 
hands to their heads. 

If we agree that thinking is an "inner" behavior and 
not a mystical process entirely different from general 
outward behavior, we are in position to advance some 
propositions as to its possible modes of development. 
We shall assume that thinking will be developed in much 
the same manner as other behavior and consequently we 
shall expect some or all of the following aspects: 

1. It will require a specific aim or objective. In other 
words, we shall not expect to develop "thinking in gen- 
eral," but specific thoughts, just as we do not expect to 
cultivate "behavior in general" but to develop skill in 
specific acts. 

2. It will grow by the process of "Trial and Error"; 
that is, the pupils must be given opportunities to make 
attempts, even though such attempts involve the making 
of mistakes. 

3. It will be developed by actual practice, not by the 
teacher, but by the pupil, in which he continually looks for 
the successful thoughts and eliminates the unsuccessful. 



34 TEACHING TO THINK 

4. The teacher will give the best assistance by stimu- 
lating the pupil to make new attempts when he has be- 
come discouraged, and by calling attention to the suc- 
cessful thoughts that have been overlooked or to the 
defects which should be eliminated, provided the pupil 
verifies the advice by his own practice. 

5. Development will be aided by maintaining a lively 
interest in the aim to be attained. This can be stimu- 
lated by keeping a record of the improvement made. 

6. Good thinking is facilitated by avoiding excitement, 
confusion, and worry. 

7. Finally, if thinking is an ^^inner" behavior which 
began as an "outer'' behavior, we shall expect to find 
that it can best be developed by beginning with prac- 
tical situations in which something needs to be done. 
Its development will, however, differ from the develop- 
ment of skill in one important aspect. While it begins 
with doing, skill in thinking is achieved only in so far as 
the particular activity is changed from being wholly or 
mainly bodily work to becoming mainly or entirely head- 
work. 

What are the chief advantages of the "inner" as com- 
pared with the "outer" behavior? 

1. It takes much less time. 

2. It requires less effort. 

3. It saves materials. Compare the amount of waste 
in the work of a dressmaker or carpenter who is a good 
headworker with that of one who is a poor headworker. 

4. It enjoys the freedom of time and place. One can 
work anywhere and at any time. 

5. It makes it possible for an individual to accomplish 



THINKING AS AN EFFICIENT FORM OF BEHAVIOR 35 

tasks vastly bigger than he otherwise could. Think 
of all that has been achieved through the invention of 
tools and machinery, practically all the results of head- 
work. Think of the mighty enterprises which have been 
made possible through the formulation of long plans and 
through the organization of men and women into in- 
dustrial armies. It was headwork that did it. 

Every teacher should be a promoter of the business 
of thinking. He should be so enthusiastic about it that 
every term of school becomes a "campaign/' a '^drive'* 
for its development. 

THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. If paper can be classified as freight, writing material, 
printing material, building material, wrapping material, tow- 
els, clothing, table covering, plates, spoons, and fuel, are the 
distinctions due primarily to the characteristics of the paper 
or to the attitudes which we take to it? 

2. Do human beings show any forms of behavior that you 
would designate as tropisms? Make a list of them. 

3. Apply the laws of learning to the teaching of handwrit- 
ing. Is there a specific aim or objective to be accomplished in 
each practice period? Are erroneous or superfluous movements 
actually being eliminated? Does the teacher give effective 
suggestions? Do the pupils measure their own progress? Do 
they work without being distracted? 

4. Would it be possible to give pupils some insight into how 
they actually learn to do things? Suppose they could measure 
their achievement from time to time and that they discovered 
that at certain times they made much better progress than at 
other times, what stimulating questions might they be able to 
ask? 

5. What do you think of this advice to pupils: "Now, be 
sure not to make any mistakes"? 

6. What is the attitude of some of the most eflficient persons 
that you know toward making mistakes? 



36 



TEACHING TO THINK 



7. What part, if any, did your own mistakes play in your 
development as a teacher? 

8. How does the game of ''Prisoner's Base'' illustrate the 
transfer of behavior from footwork to headwork? 

9. Is 'Tull Away" a game mainly for the feet or the hands 
or the head when played by little children? When played by 
boys in the seventh grade? When played by adults? 

10. Draw a diagram like the one in Figure 2 without 
lifting the pencil and without retracing any of the lines; that 
is, start somewhere and keep on drawing without retracing 
until the diagram is complete. 




Fig. 2. 



As you recall your experience in drawing the diagram, would 
you classify it as handwork or headwork or both ? 

11. Take a sheet of ordinary writing paper, eight and one- 
half by eleven inches. How many cards, two by three inches 
can be cut from one sheet? Use any tools that you like. Can 
you solve it by headwork only? No, the answer is not fifteen. 

12. A farmer had a twenty- acre field of wheat 160 rods 
long and 20 rods wide. One morning he sent his two boys, 
John and Will, each with an eight-foot binder, to reap the 
field. John drove first and Will followed. At noon they had 
gone around the field exactly six times, after which they drove 
the binders into the yard^ How much more did John reap 
than Will? How would you classify your experience in solv- 
ing this problem? Can you separate your thinking from the 
handwork, the sensations of sight, the memories of tables and 
of previous examples solved? 



Ill 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUAL 
JUDGMENT 

During a number of years of experience in school work 
the writer made more than three thousand visits to 
schools and classes in rural, graded, and high schools, as 
well as in colleges and universities; yet he never witnessed 
what might be called a Judgment Recitation. By a Judg- 
ment Recitation I mean one in which the aim is to train 
the pupils to judge correctly by having them make com- 
parisons, determine relative importance or values, weigh 
evidence, or test inferences and conclusions regarding 
things, persons, situations, or ideas. 

Does this mean that judgment plays such an unim- 
portant part in the affairs of daily life that no attention 
needs to be* given to its development? Or, does it mean 
that ability to judge correctly is a native ability that 
cannot be developed by practice? Or, does it mean that 
the schools have been neglecting a very important 
matter? 

What about the first question as to the importance of 
judgment in the affairs of daily life? Oh, you will say, 
there is no need of discussing that ; for it will be granted 
at once that the ability to pass accurate and reliable 
judgments is an essential factor of success in any voca- 

37 



38 TEACHING TO THINK 

tion. Even in unskilled labor the workman needs to 
judge for himself whether his work will be satisfactory to 
the foreman or not. Every time a person makes a pur- 
chase of anything he needs to judge of its quality, fitness, 
and relative value. All our conduct is subject to the 
judgment of others and is wise or foolish according to 
the kind of judgment we exercise. Yes, truly, sane judg- 
ment in practical affairs is of great importance. 

The next question, then, is whether ability in judging 
can be developed or not. Is it not so that some persons 
are bom foolish and remain foolish while other persons 
are naturally clever and remain so in spite of any training 
that they receive? Are not some persons naturally good 
judges of stock or land or buildings or music or other 
things? 

Suppose we try a simple experiment to discover how a 
person develops a more accurate judgment in estimating 
the length of strips of paper. Prepare a number of strips 
of equal width. Cut them off in different lengths from 
ten centimeters to twenty. Mix the strips and place 
them under a large sheet of paper. Now take one of 
the strips, place it on the table in front of you and try 
to judge as well as you can its correct length, noting 
your estimate on a record sheet. Next measure the strip 
and record its correct length and the error of your esti- 
mate. Follow the same procedure with the other strips. 
Find the average error of the first five estimates. Do the 
same for succeeding groups of five. Repeat the experi- 
ment at convenient periods and try to make a better 
record each time. Ask yourself, ^^Am I becoming a better 
judge of these strips? How am I really learning to 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUAL JUDGMENT 39 

estimate their length more correctly?'' For more accur- 
ate judgment the strips should be cut to lengths differing 
by one-half centimeter. 

Get someone else to try the exercise in order that you 
may observe how a person behaves when he is attempt- 
ing to render a judgment. In order to make this exer- 
cise suitable for school work it may be necessary to cut 
the strips of paper so as to have greater differences in 
length, especially for the lower grades. 

If one examines the results of such an exercise, it at 
once becomes clear that there is nothing very strange 
or mysterious about the development of a specific judg- 
ment. It is found that the process is not purely a mental 
one but that it contains many elements of outward be- 
havior, easily noticed if one allows oneself to act freely 
and naturally while performing the exercise. The method 
is clearly one of ^Trial and Error,'' and the secret of 
success lies in the discovery of certain "clues" or methods 
for eliminating the errors. If it is found that one has 
a rather constant tendency to overestimate, there will 
be an effort to correct it, which in turn may result in 
the underestimation of the next sample. Certain lengths 
will be remembered more vividly than others and be- 
come the standards with which new samples are com- 
pared. Special objects may be called to mind, such as 
the ruler, a sheet of writing paper, or a lead pencil. Dif- 
ferent standards may be used for the different lengths. 
Many individual differences will appear. Some persons 
are much more erratic than others. Some underestimate 
quite consistently, others tend to overestimate. Some 
are quite reliable in regard to certain lengths and unre- 



40 TEACHING TO THINK 

liable in respect to others. Some make much more rapid 
improvement than others. In the case of some the im- 
provement is gradual, while in the case of others it is 
uneven, showing ^^spurts" and relapses according to the 
"schemes'' or "clues" which are discovered and applied. 
Some feel more certain than others of the correctness 
of their judgments. There are some individuals who 
seem to base their judgments on an indefinite feeling 
which they are unable to analyze. The feeling of cer- 
tainty varies in the same individual. 

As one can acquire skill in judging the length of strips 
of paper, so, and by a similar process, skill can be devel- 
oped in judging horses, cattle, poultry, corn, grain, bread, 
butter, fruits, literature, houses, farms, teachers, schools, 
institutions, governments — in short, anything. Suppose, 
for example, that a person wishes to develop his ability 
to judge ears of corn. He must begin by making judg- 
ments about ears of corn, comparing one with another, 
noting their similarities and differences. A good teacher 
can shorten the process of "trial and error" by directing 
the attention of the student to the various aspects in 
which ears of com may be compared, such as color, size, 
tip, butt, regularity of rows, and shape of kernel. When 
the different characteristics have been noted, the ques- 
tion arises as to their relative importance. This calls 
for further judgments and should result in the producing 
of a score card, which is one of the best tools for render- 
ing judgments accurate and reliable. 

The principal reason why so many people are quite 
erratic in their judgments is that they have not developed 
or adopted any definite standards for noting and compar- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUAL JUDGMENT 41 

ing the different characteristics of the objects which they 
attempt to judge. This is well illustrated in the ordi- 
nary judgments of declamations, orations, and debates. 
Many judges are satisfied with listening in a passive sort 
of way and rendering their judgment more or less in- 
tuitively on the basis of an indefinite feeling that this or 
that contestant excelled. If such a judge is called upon 
to justify his judgment, he discovers the unsatisfactori- 
ness of his method and begins to cast about for definite 
characteristics by which the performances might be com- 
pared. The next time this person serves as a judge at 
a contest he may develop a simple score card by which 
he rates each contestant. If he has opportunity to judge 
at a number of contests he will revise this score card 
several times, both as to the items enumerated and as to 
the values assigned to each. By eliminating the unsatis- 
factory methods and improving those which are par- 
tially satisfactory he acquires the skill of an expert. 

When it happens, as it usually does, that the judges 
at a contest differ very radically in their rating of a con- 
testant, it is generally due to the fact that one or all 
the judges have depended on a general impression for 
their judgment. If the attention of one judge was 
attracted by one characteristic in the performance while 
the other judges were impressed by some other charac- 
teristic, it is not to be expected that they will agree in 
their ratings. In order to secure a reasonable agreement 
between judges it is necessary that they judge a per- 
formance according to the same standards. The same is 
true if an individual wishes to have a judgment which 
is rendered at one time conform to a reasonable degree 



42 TEACHING TO THINK 

with his judgment of the same object or performance at 
another time. 

Now the thought may occur to someone, that if it is 
such a simple matter to develop ability in judging things, 
then it is a wonder that there are so many who show such 
poor judgment. Yes, and you may have noticed that 
it is always someone else who shows the poor judgment. 
There are many who are perfectly willing to say that 
they have poor memory, but I have yet to meet the 
person who will admit that he has a poor judgment. 
We feel that to admit having poor judgment would be 
the same as to class ourselves as defectives. If the ques- 
tion were whether we have ever given any judgments 
that were erroneous, it would be quite different. Of 
course we have, and furthermore it was to be expected, 
and we are quite normal and sensible even if we do 
make such mistakes occasionally. The expression ^^good 
judgment" has been used so long that it gives us a feel- 
ing akin to awe. It seems to imply a mystic power of 
some sort. However, if we undertake to look for "good 
judgment'' as such, it is not to be found. No one renders 
a judgment in general. Judgments are always about 
specific things and qualities. A good judge is one who 
renders many good judgments and few poor ones in the 
activity that forms his specialty. Saying that a man is 
a good judge in law means that his decisions are seldom 
reversed by the higher court. It implies nothing as to 
his ability to judge of the merits of doughnuts or poems 
or of candidates for office. 

The problem of the development of good judgment 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUAL JUDGMENT 43 

should therefore be restated to read, How can a person 
learn to render accurate judgments in regard to specific 
things in the various activities or occupations in life? 
With the problem so stated, the next thing to do will be 
to try to discover some of the typical and important 
specific judgments which are most frequently demanded 
in daily life. The following list is intended to be sug- 
gestive rather than complete. 

1. Judgments of quality; such as color, sound, smell, 
taste, touch, and temperature. Examples: The cloth is 
dark blue-green. That is the fragrance of lilies. This 
water has a temperature of about sixty degrees. 

2. Judgments of quantity ; such as size, weight, pres- 
sure, and amount. Examples: This piece of board is six 
feet long. That tree is about fifty rods from the house. 
The hog weighs about two hundred and seventy-five 
pounds. The bin has about one hundred and seventy- 
five bushels in it. That wheat will run about fifteen 
bushels to the acre. 

3. Judgments of time and speed. Examples: Accord- 
ing to the position of the sun it is now two o'clock in the 
afternoon. The man is driving twenty miles an hour. 

4. Judgments in regard to the relation of the parts 
to a whole. Examples: The rolling cutter is fastened 
too far ahead on the beam of the plow. That is the breast 
collar of a buggy harness. This is an apple seed. The 
manager is elected by the board of directors and makes 
his report to them. 

5. Judgments of cause and effect. Examples: He 
learned his lesson because he studied attentively, not 



44 TEACHING TO THINK 

because he kept on so long. The board bulges because 
it is wet on one side. The dough rises because the bac- 
teria in the yeast produce carbon dioxide gas. 

6. Judgments of economic values. Examples: This 
land is worth $185 per acre. That piece is worth only 
$65. A shoe like that is worth about $6.50. This breed 
of poultry will bring a better price as broilers than the 
other kind. 

7. Judgments of social values. Examples: Mr. X 
has done more for this community than any other man. 
This poolroom is demoralizing some of our young men. 
That game was good enough twenty years ago, but this 
one is better for our present conditions. 

8. Judgments of esthetic values. Examples: Yards 
look better with the fences removed. The house of Mr. 
N looks better than the house of Mr. ; it is better pro- 
portioned. That wall will look better if you hang a pic- 
ture in the space next to the window. The walls of this 
room should be painted light brown. 

9. Judgments about governments. Examples: This 
candidate will not make a good official, but that one 
will. The government of the public schools should be 
centralized in order to secure more efficiency. The gov- 
ernment should regulate the railroads. The Federal 
Government should equalize the educational opportu- 
nities in the various states. 

10. Judgments about religious values. Examples: 
Christianity helps people to live cheerfully and help- 
fully. These two denominations differ more in their 
practice than they do in their creed. Mr. X is correct 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUAL JUDGMENT 45 

enough in his beliefs, but he does not live according to 
them. 

11. Judgments about persons. Examples: John 
is naturally slow and can master only a minimum assign- 
ment; Will is quick and can do more than the average 
pupil. The pet hobby of Mr. Z is to have more time 
devoted to spelling in our school. I admire Lincoln more 
than Washington. 

What can the schools do to train their pupils to judge 
correctly in any of the lines that have been mentioned? 
First of all we must become thoroughly alive to the fact 
that ability in this line, as in other lines, can be devel- 
oped only by practicing that which is to be learned. The 
pupils must be given opportunity — no that is not strong 
enough — they must be put into situations where they 
will be compelled to exercise their judgment. No amount 
of practice in judging things by the teacher will develop 
judgment in the pupils. A part of every school exercise 
should be devoted to the development, expression, or 
evaluation of specific judgments. 

In the next place we must take an entirely different 
attitude toward the erroneous opinions which the pupils 
are likely to express. The value of a judgment expressed 
by a pupil in school does not consist in its accuracy but 
in the training which the pupil receives. An erroneous 
opinion, frankly expressed by a pupil, evaluated by the 
pupils and the teacher, amended so as to be correct, veri- 
fied, compared with the erroneous one, and the difference 
between the two, as well as the reasons which lead to 
each, carefully noted, will be worth very much more to 



46 TEACHING TO THINK 

the pupil than the accidental expression of a correct 
opinion which receives no critical examination. In order 
to learn through his own experience the difference be- 
tween right and wrong judgments, the pupil must be 
allowed to make both kinds freely. 

Finally, it must be the constant aim to develop in the 
pupils the ability to question their own judgment. Sup- 
pose that the practice of the teacher is to tell the pupils 
every time they express erroneous opinions. They will 
learn what they practice, which in this case is to depend 
on the teacher to tell them when they are wrong. But 
in life success depends on detecting and correcting one's 
mistakes before anyone else has a chance to notice them. 

Individual judgments need constant verification or 
correction. This can best be secured by the use of exact 
scales and measures. In those fields of thought where 
exact scales or measures are not available, some standard 
or score card is usually developed. This enables the 
various individuals to base their judgments on those 
characteristics which by common consent have been ac- 
cepted as the most important in the thing to be judged 
and thus in a large measure to eliminate differences of 
opinion. Judgments not verified or corrected by any of 
these means receive their sanction or disapproval 
through the gradual increase of experience and knowl- 
edge and the development of public opinion. Educa- 
tion should enable the individual to correct his judg- 
ments promptly and thus to become a factor in the 
formation of public opinion. The decisions of a true 
leader must be verified before they are submitted to the 
public. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUAL JUDGMENT 47 

This means that every school child should by actual 
practice become thoroughly familiar with the tools and 
methods now most commonly used by progressive people 
for the measurement of things used in connection with 
their work. Rural schools should give their pupils much 
actual practice in measuring dimensions and figuring 
contents, in the use of dry and liquid measures, in the 
use of thermometers, and in the various tests which are 
used in modern farming. City schools should in a similar 
manner teach their pupils to use the tools most commonly 
employed in city homes and in city life. This means, 
for example, that city children should learn to read gas 
meters, water meters, and electric meters^ and to use 
their knowledge in such a way that they can figure the 
cost of running an electric iron, or an electric toaster, or 
the lights in a room for a given length of time, or to figure 
the relative cost of a dinner that has been prepared in 
the oven as against one that has been prepared on the 
top of the gas range. Children should receive practice 
in measuring the quantity and testing the quality of 
goods received from the store and should learn how to 
figure the cost per unit of energy of the common articles 
of food according to the change of prices. Many other 
things might be mentioned. Those that have been named 
will serve to indicate the general idea: namely, that the 
pupils should learn the use of those tools and devices 
which they will have occasion to employ in life generally, 
in order that their judgments about practical things may 
be accurate and reliable. 

The score card has become recognized as one of the 
most important devices for obtaining reliable judgments. 



48 TEACHING TO THINK 

No teacher of agriculture would expect to develop in his 
students discriminative judgments about corn without 
the use of a score card for corn. The same thing is true 
in other lines. Practically everything exhibited at the 
various fairs is judged by the use of score cards. Why 
not make more use of this device in our schools? The 
pupils should be familiarized with the common forms of 
score cards and given some practice in their use. 

The most valuable exercise for the development of 
judgment will probably be found, however, in the at- 
tempts to make new score cards. And this can very well 
be done in connection with the work and equipment of 
the school. Suppose, for the sake of illustration, that 
our problem was that of developing a score card for the 
physical conditions of textbooks, in order that we might 
more accurately determine the material value of the 
textbooks in the hands of the pupils. How cOuld we 
proceed? If the pupils have seen various forms of score 
cards they will know that such cards consist of a list of 
those characteristics which are considered of significance 
in the thing to be judged, and that each item is given a 
number of points to indicate its relative weight, or im- 
portance. The first thing to do, therefore, is to make 
a list of the physical characteristics of textbooks. This 
can most readily be accomplished by the direct examina- 
tion of a number of the used books. One pupil notices 
that the covers of a certain book are torn; another, that 
a title page is lost; others find torn pages, marked pages, 
soiled pages, and so on until a long list has been made. 
The next problem is how to arrange the items in the 
most convenient order. One pupil suggests a certain 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUAL JUDGMENT 49 

order, ginother pupil thinks it should be otherwise. Each 
one must give reasons for his views and try to convince 
the rest of. the pupils. Finally, a motion is carried for 
a specific order. Then the question arises as to the num- 
ber of points to be assigned to the total maximum score 
and to each item on the card. This, too, requires thought 
and must be settled by a consensus of opinion. If the 
score card thus produced happens to be rather imperfect, 
the teacher should let it stand without criticism. It will 
be worth much to the pupils to discover the limitations 
of the card through actual use. 

An exercise such as the one described calls for dis- 
crimination as to what are the significant aspects or 
traits of the thing to be judged. It gives practice in 
arranging the various items so as to produce the most 
convenient total combination. Finally, it is an exercise 
in estimating the relative values of the various items. 
The pupils who prepare such a score card attain con- 
siderable ability to notice and evaluate the physical 
conditions of books. (For a sample score card see 
Appendix A.) 

Valuable exercises can be found in making score cards 
for lead pencils, penholders, writing paper, blackboards, 
school desks, window shades, door mats, and school yards. 
This same method is helpful for establishing standards 
for judging oral or silent reading, language papers, letters, 
blackboard work, maps, and drawings. 

If further exercises are wanted, it will prove interest- 
ing to develop methods for judging sleds, skates, skiis, 
shoes, sweaters, mittens, caps, and coats, always bearing 
in mind that one must not hurt the feelings of those 



50 TEACHING TO THINK 

pupils who happen to have poor specimens of any par- 
ticular article. 

Does it seem unpractical to do these things in school? 
But when pupils become old enough to buy their own 
shoes they ought to have some idea of the characteristics 
of a good shoe, ought they not? Which will they really 
and truly need the most, to know a practical good shoe 
when they see it or to be able to bound any state in the 
Union or locate some city or river rarely mentioned in 
books or papers? Which is more important, to be able 
to select a coat with an eye to the quality of the cloth, 
the style and fit, as well as the general makeup and 
serviceableness, or to be able to tell what Sir Walter 
Raleigh did with his cloak? Or, what is more valuable 
for a boy, to be able to tell a good hatchet from a poor 
one or to recite the dubious story about Washington and 
the hatchet and cherry tree? 

Pupils should always be expected to judge the value 
of their own work. Next to the ability to produce a 
piece of work is the ability to estimate its worth by a 
critical judgment of its merits and demerits. Our schools 
do not seem to be aware of this fact, for pupils are rarely 
asked to rate their own work. The rating is usually done 
by the teacher, who, as a result, gets more practice in 
judging the work of others than any individual should 
have. 

Someone may think that it would be unsafe to let 
children judge the value of their own work. That is 
the very reason why they should be trained to do it in 
school, where through proper supervision each pupil may 
learn to detect his own errors. If a pupil is not to judge 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUAL JUDGMENT 51 

of the merits of his own work before he can do this with- 
out making any mistakes in his estimates, when will 
he learn to do it? If we think seriously about the 
matter, is it not a discredit to our teaching if our pupils 
must always ask someone else whether their work is 
correct or not? With the invention of standard scales 
and measures it is becoming increasingly practicable to 
have the pupils measure their own work. If a school has 
a copy of the Thorndike or the Ayres Handwriting Scale, 
for example, any pupil can easily be taught to determine 
the quality and speed of his writing and to keep a record 
of his improvement. In order to verify his own judg- 
ment he should be trained to invite the cooperation of 
other pupils and the teacher. This leads us to the prob- 
lem of how to develop cooperative judgment, a question 
to be discussed in the next chapter. 

THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. Prepare a score card for judging the merits of business 
letters. Include both form and content. 

2. Prepare a simple score card for the selection of texts in 
arithmetic for the upper grades in a rural school. 

3. Prepare a score card for the selection of texts in geog- 
raphy for the seventh grade. 

4. Prepare a score card for the evaluation of school 
parties. 

5. Prepare a score card for the evaluation of English 
themes. 

6. Prepare a score card for the rating of teachers. 

7. Prepare a score card for the rating of superintendents. 

8. What influence, if any, does emotional excitement have 
on one's judgment of things? How could this be made clear 
to children? 



52 TEACHING TO THINK 

9. How, if at all, can judgment be developed in beginners' 
classes in foreign language? 

10. Professor Freeman says that the "critical examination 
of sources is too difficult for high school pupils'' ^ in history. 
Do you agree with him? If not, how would you amend his 
statement? 

11. Think of examples from history where it would be pos- 
sible to develop judgments of cause and effect. 

12. Compare the following groups of questions: 

a. "What is the latitude of Alaska? Name and locate the 
towns. Locate the Klondike region. Describe the Yukon 
River. What islands lie to the southwest? What strait sep- 
arates Alaska from Russia?" 

b. "What other regions lie between the same parallels of 
latitude which bound Alaska? Compare their climate with 
that of Alaska. Why are the towns of Alaska near the coast? 
Tell some advantages each town has on account of its par- 
ticular situation. Would it be nearer to go by water or over- 
land to the Klondike region? Which route would be easier? 
At what time of year would the river trip have to be made? 
Find by the use of the scale of miles how far it is across the 
Behring Strait. What nation might enter America across this 
strait?'' 2 

How would you rate a teacher who asked questions like 
those in group (a) as compared with a teacher who asked 
questions like those in group (b) ? What would be the effect 
of each group of questions on the pupils? 

* Freeman. — The Psychology of the Common Branches, 159. 
^Rapeer. — Teaching Elementary School Subjects, 365. 



IV 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVE 
THINKING 

The previous discussion related to the development of 
practical individual judgments. Such judgments, valu- 
able as they are, have many limitations and are subject 
to errors which it is impossible for the individual alone 
to overcome. The following list indicates the most im- 
portant of these limitations or errors: 

1. Errors due to sense defects, such as color blindness. 

2. Errors due to the lack of information about the 
characteristics of sensations. For example: suppose one 
is ignorant of the effects of contrast, and judges the water 
which he drinks after eating a dish of ice cream to be of 
the temperature which it appears to have. Or, suppose 
one is ignorant of our tendency to overestimate vertical 
lines, or to overestimate a period of time in which few 
things happen as compared with a similar period that 
is crowded with events. 

3. Errors due to inability to concentrate attention on 
the important aspects of things. For example: if in 
listening to a speaker one pays so much attention to the 
gestures or the number of mistakes in grammar that are 
made that one fails to note the ideas that are presented. 

4. Bias due to instinctive interests. Note the differ- 

63 



54 TEACHING TO THINK 

ence in the judgments of men and women concerning 
fighting. 

5. Bias due to first impressions which linger and in- 
fluence later judgments. If a speaker as he steps before 
an audience shambles or stumbles, he will have much 
to overcome before he gains the good opinion of the 
audience regarding his address. 

6. Bias due to previous experience or training. Note 
the opinion about ice cream held by a person who has 
once eaten too much of it. Note how our opinions about 
the beauty of names is influenced by our likes or dislikes 
for the persons whom we have known to bear those 
names. Notice the bias of most people concerning 
church denominations or political parties or lodges other 
than those to which they belong. 

7. Errors due to emotional excitement. Mark the 
unreliable character of judgments rendered when one is 
angry or violently in love. 

8. Errors due to human nature generally. Compare 
the opinions of those who are naturally easy-going with 
the opinions of those who are strenuous and always try- 
ing to reform somebody or something. Compare the 
judgments of those who are naturally hasty and who 
jump at conclusions with those of persons who are nat- 
urally cautious and careful. 

9. Errors due to self-interest. We believe more easily 
those propositions which are in our favor. Promises of 
big dividends on proposed investments are more easily 
accepted than predictions of assessments on investments 
which we have made. 

10. We favor opinion^ which we already hold because 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVE THINKING 55 

we are accustomed to them and have adjusted our mental 
life to them. We hesitate to accept opinions which will 
necessitate the readjustment of many of our beliefs and 
of our life generally. 

11. Our judgments are influenced by the various atti- 
tudes which we take toward things. If we are ^^conserva- 
tive/^ we render different judgments from those who are 
"progressive.'' If we pride ourselves on being original, 
we judge things differently from those who are afraid of 
being different in any way from others. If we have 
selected certain persons as our chief authorities we accept 
whatever they say on any topic and are inhospitable to 
the opinions of others. If we have once adopted certain 
philosophical, political, or religious doctrines we find it 
very difficult, if not impossible, to entertain impartial 
and just opinions regarding views which do not agree 
with such doctrines. Epithets and slogans create strong 
bias for or against persons and opinions. As soon as a 
person or an idea has been labeled with a name implying 
something undesirable, it becomes almost impossible to 
judge such a person or idea fairly. Promoters are con- 
stantly making use of epithets to influence the judg- 
ments of those whom they wish to control. 

12. Individual judgments are subject to the limita- 
tions of personal experience and information. Even the 
most learned scholar touches but a small portion of life. 
He is more or less ignorant in all fields except his spe- 
cialty, and he recognizes that he cannot know his spe- 
cialty completely because he cannot know all its relation- 
ships and implications. Consequently the careful scholar 
hesitates to express opinions categorically and dogmati- 



56 TEACHING TO THINK 

cally while the ignorant person, who does not know his 
limitations, feels cocksure of his opinions. 

These and many other errors and limitations appear 
in the simple as well as in the more complex opinions and 
views which individuals hold. Our judgments are far 
from being reliable or fixed. The fact that we hold a 
certain opinion to-day is no guaranty that we will hold 
the same opinion a year from now. The fact that I en- 
tertain a particular view is no guaranty that my neighbors 
will favor the same view. 

The explanation of this unreliability of 'individual 
judgments and opinions is quite clear. Judgments de- 
pend on two factors, the person who judges and the 
thing that is judged. If either of these factors changes, 
the judgment will change. Judgments are attitudes 
which we take toward things about us. They are reac- 
tions by which we adjust ourselves to our environment 
in order that we may the better live. Some of them are 
almost purely physiological in their nature. Note, for 
example, the attitude or opinion of a hungry man toward 
a dish of meat and potatoes compared with the attitude 
or opinion of a man who has eaten and is satisfied. Others 
are more intellectual. Note the attitude of an intel- 
lectually hungry person who comes to listen to a Chau- 
tauqua lecture as compared with the attitude of one 
who has listened to lectures until his mind is surfeited. 

How can variations in individual judgments be elimi- 
nated or corrected? First and best, through the use of 
standard measures wherever such are available and can 
be applied. If one man ^ays that a box weighs five 
pounds and another says that it weighs seven pounds, 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVE THINKING 57 

they can have their estimates corrected by weighing the 
box. If a parent thinks that the children in a certain 
grade do not learn how to spell and if the teacher claims 
that the children are good spellers, a test by means of 
a spelling scale will correct the judgment of either or 
both. If a business man claims, as business men fre- 
quently do, that the pupils do not learn how to write and 
do not learn how to add or subtract, a test by means of 
a handwriting scale and another test by means of a 
standard measure for the fundamental operations in 
arithmetic will determine whether the opinion of the 
business man is correct or not. 

Where exact measures cannot be applied the score 
card has proven a useful device for correcting the errors 
of individual judgments. Persons who have based their 
opinions on general impressions discover that their judg- 
ments are very unreliable. Their judgments become 
reliable as they learn to analyse the thing or situation 
to be judged into its significant characteristics and to 
give the proper weight to each characteristic. 

Exact standards and measures are now available in 
many fields and the judgments of workers in those fields 
have changed from general estimates to scientific accu- 
racy. In other fields excellent score cards have been 
devised and judgments are at least approaching scien- 
tific reliability and accuracy. When the judges of this 
or that line of exhibits at a fair have "scored'' the various 
articles exhibited and awarded the prizes, people gener- 
ally feel that the judgment can be depended upon. How- 
ever, there yet remains a large territory of "no man's 
land" where the opinion of one individual is- pitted 



68 TEACHING TO THINK 

against that of another, and where no inventive genius 
has been able to devise any accurate standards. What 
can we do for the correction of individual judgments in 
such a case? 

If we belonged to a group that was ruled by an auto- 
crat, our opinions would be submitted to him or to one 
of his representatives. If the opinions in question hap- 
pened to support and promote the power of the ruler, 
he would accept them and perhaps promote us to some 
ofl&ce. If our opinions appeared in any wise to oppose 
the power of the ruler, they would be stamped as heresies 
and we might be put in prison. 

In a democracy there is no authority above the con- 
sensus of opinion of the people. Here individual opin- 
ions are tested by public opinion. If our views support 
and promote the ideals of the people, they are welcomed 
by the people, and we shall be regarded as likely candi- 
dates for ofl&ce. If our views appear to be contrary to 
the aspirations and ideals of the people, they will be re- 
jected, and after the election we shall be counted among 
those who "also ran." If there is no consensus of opinion 
within the group, then a state of anarchy exists in which 
the opinion of every person is as good as that of every 
other person, and in which there is no way of selecting 
and approving useful opinions or of discarding those 
which are harmful. The important thing in democracy 
is consensus of opinion, or group judgments. How are 
group judgments formed? 

Every time the back alley baseball team stops for a 
discussion or a fight in order to settle some point in the 
play it means, "Gone into a committee of the whole for 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVE THINKING 59 

the purpose of arriving at a group judgment." Such a 
committee meeting reveals very clearly the development 
of group judgments. In the most primitive stages of the 
game the opinion of the strongest prevails, as it did in 
primitive society. He who can lick the others is right. 
Later the contests become more wordy and the opinion 
of the best talker prevails. There is no vote. Those 
who lose enthusiasm for their own opinions ^^shut up and 
give up" and the matter settles itself by the not alto- 
gether uncommon rule that he who gets the last word 
wins. There is in reality no positive group opinion 
where the ideas of the strongest man or of the best talker 
prevail. The group merely acquiesces in the views of 
self-appointed leaders. Real group opinions and judg- 
ments can be obtained only where all the members of 
the group have an opportunity to receive information 
about the matter in question, and where they have the 
means for registering the opinion of each individual; the 
former requires education and a public press, the latter 
requires the ballot. As group life develops, public opinion 
within the group becomes more and more intelligent, and 
the group discovers better and better methods for ex- 
pressing its judgment. 

Every individual in an enlightened democracy is a 
member of many groups, some large, some small. There 
is first of all the family group, consisting of parents and 
children living in the same house. There is also the 
larger family group, including uncles, aunts, nephews, 
nieces, and more distant relatives. Then there are the 
various societies, the church, and the club. Finally, 
there is the entire community of which one is a member 



60 TEACHING TO THINK 

whether he will be or not. In all these forms of group 
life the opinions of the individual are tested and approved 
or condemned by the judgment of the group. 

The usefulness of an individual as a member of a 
group depends on his ability to merge his thinking with 
that of the group. This implies two things. It means 
that the individual measures his own ideas by, and ad- 
justs them to, the consensus of opinion of the group to 
which he belongs. It also means that he makes his own 
ideas count in forming the public opinion of the group 
in order that such opinion may show the enlightenment 
and efficiency of the best private thought. In other 
words, our opinions of to-day must either be in agree- 
ment with the judgments of our group or they must 
have the clearness and practical usefulness which will 
appeal to the group and make them the public opinion 
of to-morrow. He whose opinions harmonize with those 
of the group is regarded as a good fellow and given credit 
for having common sense. He who does not agree with 
his group but can win that group to think as he does is 
a leader and will receive credit as his ideas demonstrate 
their real merit. He who does not agree with his group 
and who does not have the ability to win the group either 
is a genius who for his own comfort should have lived 
in some other place or at some other time, or is a fool. 

In a democracy everything depends on public opinion. 
Does someone think there is need of a certain law? He 
must create a public opinion so strong that the legisla- 
ture will feel its urgency. Shall a certain law be en- 
forced? Public opinion must be stimulated and be given 
an expression such that the officials will get the courage 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVE THINKING 61 

and the willingness to enforce that law. If a law has 
been enacted and if public opinion changes to such an 
extent that there is no interest in the enforcement of 
that law, then such a law is simply forgotten. Some 
obsolete laws are formally repealed. Most of them die 
with the public opinion that created them. 

What I have been trying to show thus far is that in a 
democracy such as ours everything depends on intelli- 
gent and positive group judgments, and that individual 
judgments must find their highest utility by influencing 
and shaping group judgments. 

Has group thinking had as prominent a place in our 
schools as it has in the affairs of practical life? How 
often does it happen in the ordinary school that the indi- 
vidual pupil gets a chance to have his opinions or his 
work evaluated by the other pupils in his class? How 
much of the time and attention of the school is devoted 
to learning by actual practice how public opinion is 
formed and how it operates? 

"Oh, welV someone will say, "the situation in school 
is different from that of life. Children are immature 
and cannot be allowed to settle things as adults do." We 
teachers are much afraid that if a proposition is submit- 
ted to a vote of the pupils they may decide it unwisely. 
But the public does not hesitate to provide for taking a 
vote or for holding an election involving the most impor- 
tant and far-reaching issues, even though it is known that 
numerous mistakes have been made in the past and that 
others will be made in the future. 

Faith in democracy does not rest upon the assumption 
that the people will always decide matters correctly or 



62 TEACHING TO THINK 

select the best men for office. Faith in democracy means 
essentially that if the common people are allowed to 
think and decide for themselves, they will gradually, 
through the method of ^'trial and error/' learn to think 
better and to select more wisely than they could before. 
Faith in democracy means that it is preferable that the 
people govern themselves, though they do it poorly, if 
they improve thereby, and that it is undesirable that a 
people be governed by others, however well it may be 
done, if it hinders the development of that people toward 
self-government. 

It is time that we develop more of this faith in democ- 
racy and that we seriously undertake the business of 
training the pupils to think cooperatively. Can it be 
done? Not by the method which has been used hitherto 
in the majority of our schools. What is that method? 
It is essentially the method of autocracy, traditionally 
inherited from those times and countries in which the 
idea of a king was the big idea, and in which the chief 
duty of the people was to be loyal subjects. 

Is it true that our teachers are autocrats who continu- 
ally are forcing their pupils into subjection? Do not 
many of them, as a matter of fact, let the pupils do en- 
tirely too much as they please? Do not statistics show 
that more teachers fail because they do not maintain 
proper order than for any other reason? That is quite 
true, and I will say right here that I have no enthusiasm 
whatever for a disorderly school; neither do I here pro- 
pose to give any comfort to any teacher who, through 
laziness or other incompetency, fails to maintain order. 

What; then, do I mean by saying that our schools have 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVE THINKING 63 

been conducted too autocratically? — and please note that 
I say our, not your. I mean that we teachers usurp too 
many of the opportunities for exercising judgment. Who 
decides how long the lessons shall be? Who decides what 
are the important points in each lesson? Who decides 
whether a class should continue to study a certain topic 
through another lesson or take up a new topic? Who 
decides when a class ought to take a review? Who plans 
the review? Who decides the kind of examination to be 
taken, how many questions it shall contain, whether it 
shall have any options or not, or whether the questions 
shall be memory questions or thought questions? Who 
judges the merits of all the written work of the pupils, 
whether it be in the form of blackboard work or written 
exercises on paper? When, if ever, do the pupils have 
a chance to decide matters for themselves? Only on the 
playground when the teacher is off duty. We are afraid 
to let them decide anything relative to their work. We 
do not think they can be trusted to do it rightly. So is 
every autocrat afraid to let the people determine things; 
he does not think they can be trusted to do it rightly. 

There is one difference between us and the autocrat, 
and it is in his favor. He does not pretend to develop 
his subjects for self-government; he trains them con- 
sistently to be loyal subjects. There is no inconsistency 
between his theory and his practice. We claim that we 
want to train our pupils to become citizens who shall be 
able to face the important and intricate problems of a 
self-governing people by impartially investigating and 
judging the merits of all the evidence available, and by 
deciding, as individuals who think cooperatively, what is 



64 TEACHING TO THINK 

the best policy to pursue for the group to which they 
belong. That is really our aim, is it not? The trouble 
with us is that our practice does not conform to our 
theory. 

Lest some reader become alarmed at the seeming radi- 
calism of the above statements, let me say that while I 
object to a school in which the teacher decides every- 
thing autocratically, I object just as much to a school in 
which the pupils govern by a system of mob rule. A 
school is a community consisting of both teachers and 
pupils and should, as a self-governing body, be ruled by' 
the teacher and the pupils thinking and acting together. 

How may cooperative thinking be developed in con- 
nection with the school studies? Let us take a concrete 
example. It is readily agreed that, outside of school, an 
intelligent person must exercise judgment concerning the 
merits of what he reads. Efficient reading implies always 
the ability to judge of the relative values of the ideas 
presented. It means that some portions of an article or 
a chapter are studied with care until they are mastered, 
while others, mere fillers, are dismissed from the mind as 
soon as their general content has been noted. It means 
that some portions are skipped because they are of no 
interest to the reader. 

Can pupils be trained to judge the relative values of 
what they read? Suppose the next topic to be studied 
in a history class covers five pages. Make the assign- 
ment by directing every pupil to select what he considers 
the five most important thoughts in the new lesson and 
to rank them by mark;ing the most important 5, the 
next in importance 4, and so on. For convenience every 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVE THINKING 65 

pupil should be trained to locate ideas on a page by the 
following method: Let the parts of the page from the 
top to the bottom be designated by the letters A, B, C, 
D, E. Thus, page 25 C will mean the middle of page 25; 
page 30 B will mean between the top and middle of page 
30 ; page 45 D will mean between the middle and bottom 
of page 45. A page that consists of thirty lines will have 
six lines for each section. When mastered this method 
will save much time and effort in all kinds of book work. 
The report of a pupil, as a result of such an assignment, 
.might look something like this: 

The five most important thoughts about the Settle- 
ment at Plymouth. 



Value 


Page 


5 


55 C 


4 


57 B 


3 


56 D 


2 


54 E 


1 


54 D 



The next thing to do is to tabulate the individual rat- 
ings in order to obtain a consensus of the class. On page 
66 is given a simple scheme for a score sheet which shows 
how the record of judgments by a class of eight pupils 
might look. 

The work of tabulating the individual judgments and 
of figuring the total score and final ranking, as well as 
the deviations of each individual from the final rank, can 
easily be done by a committee from the class, after all the 
pupils have had some preliminary training in the gen- 
eral method to be used. Note that the deviations repre- 



66 



TEACHING TO THINK 



Score Sheet for the Cooperative Rating of the Important 

Thoughts in a Lesson 

Pupils 



Page 


a 


b 


52 , 


D 




E 
A 
B 






53 


C 








D 


2 


3 




E 


1 






A 








B 






54 


C 
D 
E 
A 
B 






65 


C 
D 
E 
A 
B 


5 


4 


66 


C 
D 

E 
A 


• 


1 




B 


4 


5 


57 


C 








D 


3 


2 




E 






Deviatio 


ns 


6 






14 



4 

5 

10 



/ 



24 



14 



Total 

Score 



18 
6 



5 

23 

2 



11 
9 



30 
13 



Class 
Valua- 
tion 



sent the number of points by which each individual devi- 
ates from the class valuation. Thus, if the class has rated 
an idea four points, or next to the highest, and if pupil A 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVE THINKING 67 

has rated it five points, he deviates one point. If pupil 
G has overlooked the idea altogether, he deviates four 
points. If pupil G rates a certain idea as most important 
and gives it five points and if that idea is not included 
among the five that are selected by the class, he deviates 
five points. A more definite rating can be secured by 
figuring the number of points for each idea and giving 
weight accordingly, but it is not worth the extra work. 

The report of the committee should be placed on the 
blackboard or be written on a large sheet of paper in 
order that the whole class may study it and discuss it. 
Every pupil now has an opportunity to compare his own 
judgment with that of each member of the class, as well 
as with the group judgment of the entire class. This 
should result in a vigorous and stimulating discussion. 
Why is idea 57 B more important than idea 55 C? Why 
did pupil C think that 56 C was so important? What 
was the matter with the judgment of pupil G? Did he 
misunderstand the assignment? Is he unable to distin- 
guish between important and unimportant ideas in a 
history lesson? If so, why? How can he be helped to 
judge more efficiently? 

If one or more of the pupils are able during the gen- 
eral discussion to convince the others that the class valu- 
ation is faulty, a second rating may be made on the 
following day or when the topic is taken up for its final 
review. Sometimes amendments can be proposed and 
carried at the time of the general discussion. The main 
purpose should constantly be kept in mind. It is to aid 
the pupils to become better judges of the relative values 
of ideas in what they read. There must be no censure 



68 TEACHING TO THINK 

of those who judge poorly; but they must be helped to 
analyse their own judgments and to discover why they 
are not as good as those of the class. Pupils who prove 
to be good judges may safely be detailed to act as coaches 
in a few practice exercises before the next recitation. 
Some pupils should be called for private consultations 
with the teacher. 

All this seems to be very easy and practicable. But 
suppose the class should decide that a relatively unim- 
portant idea is the most significant. Then the teacher 
has a very fine opportunity by joining in the general dis- 
cussion as one of the group to demand that he be con- 
vinced. I take it that no teacher who values real thought 
in his school will ever try to settle a question concerning 
relative merit by an autocratic decree. 

This type of work can be varied in a great many ways. 
In place of rating the ideas the pupils may be asked 
simply to select a given number of ideas which they 
consider most important. In that case the class rating 
is obtained by finding the number of votes which each 
idea receives. A time limit may be set in order to de- 
velop speed. The plan may be used for a review of a 
large topic. Newspapers or magazines may be used, the 
task being to find in a given time the most important 
articles or items in the paper or the most important 
thoughts on a given page or in a certain article. The 
method may also be applied to the reading of stories. 
In place of asking for the most important ideas we could 
ask for the most beautiful idea, the finest description of 
nature, the most likable characters, the best anecdotes, 
or the cleverest jokes. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVE THINKING 



69 



The method of obtaining a consensus of opinion by the 
rating of the various items in question has long been 
used in declamatory, oratorical, and debating contests. 
It was used by Thorndike in preparing his handwriting 
scale, and by Hillegas in preparing his composition scale. 
In modified forms it has been employed in the arrange- 
ment of other scales. An interesting and suggestive ap- 
plication is illustrated in the rating of the importance 
of the various dates in United States history. According 
to Bagley ^ the twenty most important dates are the 
following: 



Rank 


Date 


Value 


Rank 


Date 


Value 


1 


1776 


1323 


11 


1812 


752 


2 


1492 


1261 


12 


1765 


629 


3 


1607 


1363 


13 


1783 


618 


4 


nsi^ 


1100 


14 


1865 


389 


5 


1620 


961 


15 


1850 


591 


6 


1803 


955 


16 


1854 


590 


7 


1861 


901 


17 


1775 


585 


8 


1787 


821 


18 


1781 


584 


9 


1863 


808 


19 


1823 


521 


10 


1820 


793 


20 


1846 


470 



The method of rating has recently been applied in 
regular elections in the form of a preferential ballot by 
which the voter expresses his first and second choice of 
candidates for a certain office. 

One reason why public opinion fails to accomplish 
more than it does and why groups of people or commu- 
nities suffer nuisances to continue which no individual 
would tolerate is that we have not yet devised methods 

* Bagley. — Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Edu- 
cation, 1915. 



70 TEACHING TO THINK 

suflSciently convenient for gathering the consensus of 
opinion and expressing it in such a form as to be clearly 
understood. Not long ago I stood with a school superin- 
tendent on the platform at a railway station waiting for 
a late evening train. A number of young high school 
pupils were '^hanging around'' at the station according to 
their regular habit. The superintendent spoke of it and 
deplored the situation, which seemed to be without 
remedy. These young people should have been in their 
homes or among their good friends instead of seeking 
adventure in the chance acquaintance of strangers. Now 
if that community could only devise some convenient 
and positive method for expressing its disapproval of 
such conduct, the situation would probably improve 
without further ado. The trouble was that while the 
majority of the people condemned the practice as indi- 
viduals, the community did not know how to express its 
condemnation as a group. 

Professor Scott gives an interesting illustration of the 
force of group judgment, clearly expressed, in a case 
reported to him by a distinguished Boston educator. 
There had been some misbehavior and the teacher said 
to a certain boy, "Well, there is no doubt that I shall 
have to punish you." The boy answered in the presence 
of the class, "Oh, yes, punish me; you're always down 
on me." Then the teacher said, "111 leave it to the rest 
if you don't deserve it. More than that, I'll leave the 
class entirely to itself in deciding. I'll turn my face to 
the wall, and they can vote without my seeing them, and 
I'll never ask a boy how he has voted." When the vote 
was reported as being unanimously in favor of the boy's 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVE THINKING 71 

being punished, he broke down and said, ^Well, it must 
be right, since everybody says so/' ^ 

Professor Scott makes the following comment upon 
this incident: 

^^The interesting and significant feature of this experience is 
the effect of the class sentiment on the boy. His attitude of 
defiance in the first place was evidently conditioned by his 
thought that the class was back of him; and, indeed, so it 
might have been but for the action of the teacher. The 
case throws a strong light on the real nature of punishment. 
This is never the mere infliction of pain or other inconvenience. 
. . . Punishment is the disapproval and repression of the 
group one feels he belongs to. Nothing else is punishment.'* 

We defend ourselves against the censure of an indi- 
vidual by claiming that our own opinion is worth as 
much as or more than his. When individual opinions 
are gathered into a clear and unmistakable public opinion 
they gain an intensity impossible to withstand. This is 
the secret of the success of self-government in school or 
out of school. It depends on the ability of the group to 
form and express effectively a consensus of opinion. The 
teacher who is to make a success of self-government in 
his school must devise ways and means by which the 
pupils can do group thinking and express group thoughts. 

Without attempting to discuss all the possible varia- 
tions or applications of cooperative rating, or preferen- 
tial balloting, as a method for making group thinking 
effective, its main advantages can be summarized in the 
following points: 

1. Every pupil must exercise his own judgment. 

^ Scott. — Social Education, 96. 



72 TEACHING TO THINK 

2. Individual judgments may, whenever it seems de- 
sirable, be anonymous. 

3. A definite group judgment expressing the exact 
opinion of the group with regard to the matter in question 
is obtainable. 

4. It becomes possible for the individual to compare 
his own judgment with that of the group as a whole. 

5. The comparison of individual judgments with that 
of the group stimulates vigorous thinking and discussion. 

6. The teacher has an opportunity to discover the 
abilities and weaknesses in the judgments of the indi- 
vidual pupils. 

7. The teacher has a chance to compare his own 
opinions with those of the class and is thereby saved 
from falling into the error of believing that he is infallible. 

8. The method can be used as a laboratory demon- 
stration of what is meant by public opinion, of how public 
opinion can be modified, and of how its strength will 
vary in proportion to its unanimity. 

9. When a rating has been made the class may decide 
that the lack of agreement is due to the want of suffi- 
cient information. It may happen that the attempt to 
arrive at a consensus develops into a problem which ex- 
tends over several days or weeks, and leads to much 
energetic scouting for information. Any individual who 
is not willing to accept the first consensus of opinion of 
his group should have a right to apply for a "stay of 
proceedings" until further information has been obtained. 

10. It gives a splendid opportunity for the develop- 
ment of leadership in thinking, in that it stimulates every 
individual who has an opinion different from that of the 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVE THINKING 73 

whole group to try to convince the group and bring them 
to see things as he sees them. 

11. It changes hard thinking into a competitive game, 
and makes the ability to form a valid judgment an aim 
worthy of the best endeavors of the pupils. 

THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. How can the fact be explained that inteUigent voters 
will entertain such divergent opinions about a candidate for 
office? 

2. Someone has said that we believe many things because 
we like to believe them rather than because of evidence. Is 
he correct or not? 

3. Develop a cooperative exercise for rating cities, or states, 
or countries according to their desirability as places in which 
to live. 

4. Develop an exercise for rating historical characters as to 
their values as examples to be followed. 

. 5. Develop an exercise for rating various forms of enter- 
tainment as to their value for those who attend. 

6. Develop an exercise for the group rating of oral reading. 

7. Would it be a good general rule that all compositions 
should be placed in the hands of committees, and that they 
should later be read before the class or a part of the class 
and a report by the committee presented at the same time? 

8. An investigator ^ has found that pupils do better when 
working in groups than when working alone. Do you think 
his findings would apply in your school? 

9. Arother investigator holds that the school work of chil- 
dren is, for the most part, better than their home work. Do 
you think his conclusion would apply to your school? 

10. Whereas, such a large portion of our daily life is lived 
as a group life, and whereas such a small portion is lived as 
a hermit life; be it resolved that the studying of lessons, the 
working of problems, and other types of school work should 
be in the form of group work, and that to think or work as a 

^ Smith. — An Introduction to Educational Sociology, 366. 



74 TEACHING TO THINK 

hermit should be discouraged in school as it is in life. Discuss 
this statement. 

11. It has now become quite common to have in colleges 
a '^Student Council'^; that is, a council consisting of faculty 
members and students, in order that the students may have a 
share in the affairs of their institution. Should high school 
students have any share in the affairs of the high school? 
How about the pupils in the grades? Is it true that the affairs 
of a rural school probably seem as important to the pupils 
and can give them as much training in judgment as the affairs 
of a college do to its students? 

12. Suppose a class has finished a term's or a year's work 
in a certain school subject. Suppose the teacher should ask 
the members of the class to name the ten facts which they 
consider most important in what they have learned and to 
rate these facts according to their importance. What would 
be the benefits of such an exercise to the pupils? To the 
teacher? 

13. Suppose at the end of a course in a school subject the 
teacher should ask the pupils to name ten facts which they 
have studied and which they consider the most worthless, 
rating the facts according to their degree of uselessness. 
Would such an exercise have any value for the pupil? For 
the teacher? 

14. Is it true that in a democracy the majority is always 
right and that in an autocracy the minority is always right? 

15. Under what circumstances might the judgment of an 
individual be more reliable than the consensus of opinion of 
an entire group? 

16. If the opinion of an individual differs from the general 
opinion of the group to which he belongs and if he is unable 
to change the group opinion to agree with his, must he take 
that as conclusive evidence that he is mistaken in his view? 

17. Is the statement that a decision must await the ^^test of 
time,'' or the ^Verdict of history" merely another way of say- 
ing that individual opinions or individual merit must be es- 
tablished by group judgments? 



V 

THE VALUE OF THINKING AS OTHERS THINK 

'^Science has taught by a thousand proofs that the universe 
is what it is because of what it was and that men are what 
they are now because of what men were before/' ^ This general 
statement is borne out in detail by the following summary 
given by Professor Starch in his chapter on the inheritance 
of mental traits: ^^The general impression from all experi- 
mental, statistical, and historical material thus far accumu- 
lated on the problems of mental heredity would seem to be 
somewhat as follows: Barring paupers, invalids, and those 
suffering from want of food and shelter due to conditions 
beyond their personal control, and referring to all others living 
in the same community at the same time, the ultimate achieve- 
ment of any given individual is due to his original ability, 
probably to the extent of 60 to 90 per cent, and to actual 
differences in opportunity or external circumstances only to 
the extent of 10 to 40 per cent/' ^ 

Much of what we are is undoubtedly due to direct 
physical transmission from our ancestors. General stat- 
ure and build, color of skin, hair, and eyes can easily 
be traced in families with pronounced traits. Intellectual 
ability or lack of ability is inherited as is abundantly 
demonstrated by the studies which have been made of 
such families as the ''Jukes/' ''Zeros,'' "Kallikaks," 
"Dwellers in the Vale of Siddem," the Edwardses, and 
others. Characteristics of energy and vitality, of temper 

1 West.— "The Immortal Conflict," School and Society, 8:31-35, 1918. 
^Starch. — Educational Psychology, 94, 1918. 

75 



76 TEACHING TO THINK 

and temperament, of fundamental likes and dislikes are 
easily noticed in various family groups. 

In addition to physical heredity we have the fact of 
social heredity brought about by the influence of the 
home and the immediate environment in which a person 
is raised. Innumerable customs and traditions are trans- 
mitted from one generation to another. Children un- 
consciously accept the social customs, the religious be- 
liefs and ceremonies, the political and economic views, 
of their parents and of the neighborhood to which they 
belong. 

There are a number of factors or conditions which are 
favorable to social heredity. The most important of 
these is isolation. This may be caused by geographical 
barriers, such as mountains or rivers, or by distance 
from other groups. It may also be caused by differences 
in language, social status, religion, political views, race, 
by clannishness, and bv other conditions of group life. 
Lack of general education is another form of isolation. 
Ancestor worship, whether in the extreme form of some 
of the oriental nations or in the milder form of selecting 
none but old men for leading positions within the group, 
is an important factor in the transmission of customs and 
traditions. Peace and the absence of competition are 
favorable conditions. Where any or all of these factors 
or conditions prevail each succeeding generation will 
feel, think, and act like its predecessor. 

Social heredity is operative not only in communities 
but also in occupational groups; in some more, in others 
less. The legal profession has in the past been remark- 
ably dominated by precedent both in regard to principles 



' 



THE VALUE OF THINKING AS OTHERS THINK 77 

and procedure. Some forms of religion are more con- 
servative than others. Some trades follow ancient prac- 
tices more than others. 

What is the value, if any, of social heredity? Why 
should customs and traditions be respected? They serve 
for the group exactly the same purpose as habits do for 
the individual. They save both time and effort by mak- 
ing it unnecessary to invent a solution anew for each 
question that arises. They make for continuity and for 
stability in the group life. They carry forward the ac- 
cumulated experience and wisdom of the past, and fur- 
nish a reliable foundation upon which each generation 
may in turn continue to build the temple of civilization. 

As it is of great importance that we should think and 
act in harmony with the customs and traditions of our 
ancestors, so it is imperative that we should in the main 
think and act in harmony with our contemporaries. 
Effective thinking must show deference to convention- 
ality. Common feelings, beliefs, and ideals constitute the 
very essence of group life. Conventionality forms the 
unwritten constitution of social life. He who fails to 
share in the ^^common'' things of social life is essentially 
alone though he be surrounded by friends and neighbors; 
he is a hermit though he live in the center of a city. 
Whatever success he may attain will have the limitations 
of hermit life. 

Through conventionality and imitation the majority 
of individuals within a group tend to adopt the views, 
ideals, and methods of the most successful members of 
that group. This tends to raise the imitators from 
mediocrity to the level of those who are more successful. 



7^ TEACHING TO THINK 

Conspicuous success in any line attracts attention and 
stimulates emulation. Wealth, education, social posi- 
tion, political success, business or professional success, 
.ability to foresee events, eloquence, and skill as a writer 
invite the imitation of a large number of people. Rural 
districts imitate the towns and these in turn imitate the 
large cities. 

Conventionality is not a thing to be disregarded or 
spurned. This is especially true in a democracy. It 
forms the "common sense'' of the people and thus makes 
self-government possible. If there were no conventional 
beliefs, ideals, and methods of work a democracy would 
change into anarchy. Back of the laws which are truly 
the laws of the people, back of the institutions which are 
of and for the people are the common beliefs and ideals 
of the nation. He who desires to promote democracy 
must find these "common'' things and build on them the 
better democracy of the morrow. 

Conventionality makes possible the establishment of 
standards of achievement and behavior in all walks of 
life. These, in turn, make it possible for him who mas- 
ters these standards and conforms to them to attain to a 
degree of achievement and self-expression far beyond 
that which can be attained by those who disregard the 
common standards. The reader can readily think of 
illustrations of this proposition by considering the re- 
quirements for success in his own line of work. 

We are realizing to-day as never before how dependent 
we are on each other. "Society," says Burke, "is a part- 
nership not only between those who are living, but be- 
tween those who are living and those who are dead — 



THE VALUE OF THINKING AS OTHERS THINK 79 

and those who are to be born/^ and the Bible tells us that 
'^None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to him- 
self.'^ One of the final tests of efiicient thinking is that 
it enables a person to live well with his fellowmen. This 
is the test which must be met by the industries of 
America to-day. We have quite successfully passed the 
tests for initiative, inventiveness, organizing ability, and 
salesmanship. We have only partially met the test 
of cooperation between capital, management, and labor; 
and we know that our industrial life will fall short of 
real success if we do not meet that test and meet it fully. 
It is the test which we must meet in our political life. 
We are realizing clearly how each individual within a 
group is dependent upon each other individual within 
that group and owes it, as a sacred duty, to adapt himself 
^ to the standards of his group. We are not realizing so 
well how each group within our nation is dependent on 
all the other groups and owes it, as a sacred duty, to adapt 
itself to the standards and needs of the nation as a whole. 
Why do I place so much emphasis on the thoughts 
that are common to us all? This is the reason. We are 
prone to regard ^^common'' opinions and ideals as being 
commonplace and uninteresting. As teachers we are in 
danger of looking upon teaching the ^^common^' branches 
in the ^^common'' schools as work that is without dis- 
tinction. As a result our teaching lacks in enthusiasm 
and we ourselves become, as teachers, very ordinary. The 
"common'' thoughts of mankind are the important 
thoughts. They have stood the test in the struggle for 
existence. People live by them. A teacher should re- 
gard himself as the custodian of the important "common" 



80 TEACHING TO THINK 

thoughts of his people. When he trains his pupils to 
think and appreciate these thoughts he is doing no com- 
monplace work. 

A textbook in the "common" branches is a wonderful 
book. Just imagine for a moment that all the geogra- 
phies were destroyed and that all the information con- 
tained in them was lost. Suppose mankind were to begin 
to-day to make its textbook in geography. Think of the 
amount of travel that would have to be done, the dis- 
coveries, the inventions that would have to be made. 
Think of all the work and the time it would take to write 
a geography of one county alone. How long would it 
take a person to travel over his own state, to make a 
map of it such as the one found in the school geography, 
and to describe the state as this book does? Think of 
what a task it would be to explore the United States; 
North America. Think of the hosts of men and women 
who have traveled on land and sea, who have explored 
far-off countries, who have gone into regions where no 
one lived but savages and wild animals, who have pa- 
tiently and carefully gathered bit by bit the information 
which we have about the earth and the life upon it. 
When we study our geography we are receiving a part 
of the heritage accumulated by the labors of millions. 

Think of the multiplication table for a moment. There 
must have been a time when it was unknown. Perhaps 
there was an inventor of the multiplication table. There 
ought to be a school holiday in his honor. Think of the 
amount of time and labor which this simple device saves 
in the commercial world even in one day. If it were 
collected it would make many holidays. 



THE VALUE OF THINKING AS OTHERS THINK 81 

I doubt very much whether anyone can be a good 
teacher if he does not feel enthusiasm for these '^com- 
mon'' thoughts of mankind as he finds them in the sub- 
jects which he teaches. They are the thoughts of the 
race winnowed and garnered from centuries of trial and 
error* To teach them in such a way that they seem to 
the pupil commonplace and uninteresting is a sacrilege. 

What are the chief advantages of thinking as others 
think? 

1. It is the easiest way. Oh, yes, I know. We teach- 
ers always condemn "paths of least resistance," and advo- 
cate everything that is "hard" as if it had a virtue of its 
own* But if we are at all clever we perform our own 
work in the easiest way by which the desired results 
can be obtained. Nature always seems to follow the 
paths of least resistance. 

"There is no more miserable human being," says James, 
'^than the one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision and 
for whom the hghting of every cigar, the drinking of every 
cup. the time of rising and going to bed every day, and the 
beginning of every bit of work are subjects of express voli- 
tional deliberation." ^ 

2. It is the quickest way, for it uses goods that are 
already produced and does not require the spending of 
time in gathering information and making tentative at- 
tempts that original thinking does. 

3. It is the most efl&cient method for the individual of 
small or average talents, because it enables him to act 
on the thoughts of the best minds in his group. He can 
save himself from failure by adopting the plans of those 

* James. — Talks to Teachers, 67. 



82 TEACHING TO THINK 

who are more clever than he, or who have had access to 
information that he could not gather. His life is lifted 
by vicarious experience. 

4. It is the most effective for the progress of the group. 

"Every thinking being/^ says Smith, "is the result of social, 
as well as individual, work. World-conquering ideas do not 
spring full-grown from the brain of individual men. They 
are accretions from many sources, or genetic developments of 
a series of thinkers and workers. Great men merely form the 
crests of waves of advancement. The discovery of America 
was the outgrowth of an era of exploration and adventure, 
and must have taken place shortly if Columbus had never been 
born. A number of inventors, each building upon the success 
of his predecessor, were necessary to perfect the steam 
engine.'^ ^ 

5. It gives historical continuity and stability to our 
thinking. The thoughts which have sprung from the 
experiences of one individual, no matter how talented or 
experienced he may be, have but a small basis for their 
reliability when compared with the same thoughts after 
they have been adopted and verified in the lives of the 
people. 

So important are the "common" beliefs, ideals, and 
activities of a people as factors in the development of 
that people, that prominent men have claimed that edu- 
cation should consist essentially in the transmission to 
the coming generation of the spiritual heritage of the 
race. 

''It must mean," says President Butler, "a gradual adjust- 
ment to the spiritual possessions of the race, with a view to 
realizing one^s own potentialities and to assisting in carrymg 

* Smith. — An Introduction to Educational Sociology, 170. 



THE VALUE OF THINKING AS OTHERS THINK 83 

forward that complex of ideas, acts, and institutions which 
we call civilization. These spiritual possessions may be va- 
riously classified, but they certainly are at least fivefold. The 
child is entitled to his scientific inheritance, to his literary 
inheritance, to his aesthetic inheritance, to his institutional 
inheritance, and to his religious inheritance. Without them 
all he cannot become a truly educated or a truly cultivated 
man." ^ 

This whole argument seems to lead us into a pedagogy 
of long ago. If it is so important to share the beliefs, 
ideals, and activities of the group to which one belongs, 
then it must follow that teachers should regard it as 
their highest duty to convey to their pupils the various 
elements of the racial heritage. Teaching, in other 
words, ought to be a process of memorizing the accepted 
thoughts and of drill in the conventional practices of 
the group to which one belongs. How can this be har- 
monized with the ideal that the development of thinking 
is the most important aim of teaching? 

What is the relation between thinking and memoriz- 
ing? Are they processes that are essentially different and 
opposite, or are they complementary? In order to answer 
these questions let us take a concrete illustration. The 
Hahn-Lackey Geography Scale ^ gives two kinds of ques- 
tions, memory questions and thought questions. The 
following are examples of memory questions: 

What is the capital of the United States? 

Name five wild animals. 

Name the five great lakes of North America. 

'^ Butler. — The Meaning of Education, 25. 

^Hahn-Lackey Geography Scale; State Normal School, Wayne, 
Nebraskai 



84 TEACHING TO THINK 

How will a pupil answer these questions? If the 
words, "Capital of the United States/' have been in his 
experience regularly associated with the word "Wash- 
ington/' then he will promptly respond with that word 
without stopping to think about it. The readiness with 
which the response is made will be in proportion to the 
strength of the bonds or associations established, and 
these, in turn, will be in proportion to the vividness and 
frequency of the experiences by which the bonds or asso- 
ciations were established. 

When the pupil is asked to name five wild animals, he 
may respond without thinking and give the names which 
first come to his mind. Ordinarily, however, this ques- 
tion is likely to call for some thinking. If more names 
come to the mind of the pupil than the question calls 
for, he must make a selection by determining whether 
they are the names of wild, semi-wild, or tame animals. 
In other words, such a memory answer may involve 
selective judgment. The problem of naming the five 
great lakes of North America may be solved thought- 
lessly by naming the five great lakes between the United 
States and Canada, simply following the suggestion con- 
tained in the words "five great lakes.'' If the words "of 
North America" are prominent, and if the pupil knows 
the names of a considerable number of lakes, then the 
problem calls for comparison of the various lakes as 
to their relative size and may involve complex processes 
of thought. 

Now consider the following thought questions from 
the same geography scale: 



THE VALUE OF THINKING AS OTHERS THINK 85 

Name four natural conditions favorable to the loca- 
tion of cities. 

Give the principal reasons why Argentina is a pro- 
gressive nation. 

Why doesn't CaUfomia grow much corn? 

How will a pupil respond to these questions? He must 
first be able to recall some facts relative to the matter in 
question. If only one idea comes to mind and if the 
pupil replies by stating that idea, then his answer is 
clearly a memory answer. If more ideas come to his 
mind than the problem calls for, then he must exercise 
discrimination and determine which idea best meets the 
wishes of the questioner. In such a case the answer 
would involve thought. \ 

Thinking is like remembering, in that it involves the 
recall by means of previously formed bonds or associa- 
tions of ideas more or less relevant to the problem at 
hand. If the first idea that comes to mind does not seem 
to fit the case, we "stop to think," which means that we 
try to recall other ideas. If more ideas come to mind 
than we need, we select and use those which appear to 
be most applicable. Suppose a pupil be asked the ques- 
tion, "How many are seven times nine?" If his atten- 
tion happens to center more on the seven than on the 
nine, he may recall the numbers 49, 42, 56. If his atten- 
tion centers on the nine, he may recall 45, 54, 63. When 
he hesitates before answering the question, it means that 
he is trying to judge which number will satisfy the 
teacher. If his first answer is wrong, he decides to try 
one of the other numbers. After thorough drill this ele- 



86 TEACHING TO THINK 

ment of guessing is eliminated, and the pupil responds 
correctly "without thinking/' 

Ordinary discussions give excellent illustrations of the 
close relationship between remembering and thinking. 
Notice what usually happens. Someone makes an asser- 
tion to which another person takes exception. The party 
of the first part now calls to mind an idea which sup- 
ports his contention and states it as a "point" in his 
favor. This calfe up in the mind of the party of the 
second part ideas or facts which he proceeds to state as 
far as the first speaker will allow. Each "point'' that is 
made becomes a stimulus which calls forth other "points." 
The discussion will be of high or low grade, according to 
whether the contestants are able to recall many or few 
ideas and whether or not they are able to exercise dis- 
crimination so as to inhibit the more irrelevant ones. 

In summarizing what we have been trying to illus- 
trate, we may say that ideas have two aspects, a past 
and a present. They come to us according to the laws 
of association. We inhibit them or use them according 
to their apparent fitness for our present needs. When 
we consider how ideas come to us, we call it remember- 
■ f ing. When we consider how they are selected according 
\to their fitness, we call it thinking. The process is all one, 
and the unconscious selection, due to the vividness of the 
first impression or to the frequency of repetitions, grad- 
ually shades into the conscious selection which is fully 
aware of the fitness or irrelevancy of an idea. No one 
can tell where the one ends and the other begins. 

As a summary of the whole argument we may say that, 
as the efficiency of any business management depends on 



THE VALUE OF THINKING AS OTHERS THINK 87 

the mastery and application of the accumulated experi- 
ence in that business, so the efficiency of one's thinking in 
any field depends on the mastery and use of the accumu- 
lated thoughts in that field. Please note that I used the 
words mastery and use, and* that I did not say that effi- 
ciency in thinking can be attained by merely repeating 
the thoughts of others. Mastery means discrimination, 
rejection of that which is irrelevant, immaterial, or un- 
founded. It means rearrangement according to the needs 
of the hour, and use in such a way as to obtain practical 
results. 

THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. Professor Bagley says that habit is nine-tenths of Hfe. 
Would it be true to say that habitual thoughts form nine- 
tenths of the ordinary thinking in life? 

2. Give examples to show how traditions serve as a 
philosophy of life for the less educated members of society. 

3. How are sayings and proverbs related to tradition? 

4. What is the effect of war upon traditions? 

5. What are the results of too much subservience to cus- 
toms and traditions? 

6. Compare the functions of conventionality in a democ- 
racy with its functions in an autocracy. 

7. What could a teacher do to develop in his pupils appre- 
ciation of such inventions as decimals? Dictionaries? Punc- 
tuation? Paragraphing? Mathematical formulas? Maps? 

8. Someone has said that the person who is most original 
is also a great imitator. Do you agree? Can you improve on 
the statement? 

9. Should we differentiate between the truth of a statement 
and its value? Can you give an example of a statement which 
is true, but not valuable? Valuable, but not true? 

10. In what ways should education alter a person's rela- 
tions to customs and conventionalities? 



88 TEACHING TO THINK 

11. The following questions are taken from the Hahn- 
Lackey Geography Scale. Some were classed as memory ques- 
tions and some as thought questions. Can you tell which are 
which? 

a. Name two things that plants must have to live. 

b. In what direction would you go to reach Canada? 

c. Name an animal useful to man in desert countries. 

d. To whom do the streets or roads belong? 

e. Name a plant used for making cloth. 

f . Name two kinds of work that men do in getting food 
for us. 

g. Give two ways in which water gets away when it rains, 
h. Where does the water in the well come from? ^ 

12. If the thought aspect of ideas depends on the selection 
and use of the ideas rather than on the way they came to us, 
what is the most important rule to follow in producing thought 
exercises? 

^ In the Scale, b, c, e, g are given as memory questions, and a, d, f, h 
as questions that "provoke thought." 



VI 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF INITIATIVE IN 

THINKING 

Life for the individual, as for the group, is a constant 
struggle for freedom and self-expression. We are all the 
time in the bondage of our habits, which seize us with 
an ever tightening grip, as the years go by, and carry us 
inevitably into an old-fogyism of one sort or another. 
This bondage is very seductive in its nature ! It promises 
ease, efficiency, and peace of mind. To think our habitual 
thoughts and to perform our accustomed duties in the 
accustomed ways, seems to be much more satisfying than 
to be forever adjusting ourselves to new conditions and 
new duties. Then, too, it seems extremely safe. One is 
not in danger of making mistakes, or of getting oneself 
talked about, or of being unable to defend one's conduct if 
it can be said that "he has always thought that way" or 
"he did just what he always has done in similar circum- 
stances." In some way or other the thoughts and actions 
of yesterday have acquired a standing such that they are 
in no danger of being haled into court for trial. 

The bondage or slavery against which a person has to 
struggle for his life as an individual, may be of many 
forms. Without attempting to enumerate them all, it 
may be worth while to call to mind those which are the 
most important. 

89 



90 TEACHING TO THINK 

1. Fears. Nearest to us perhaps is the tyranny of 
our own fears. According to HalP the most common 
causes of fears are thunder and lightning, reptiles, wild 
and domestic animals, darkness, and strange persons. 
Every individual has a large number of fears which domi- 
nate him more or less. Pupils occasionally have such a 
fear of a large class that they are utterly unable to recite 
orally. Others may be afraid of the teacher, the superin- 
tendent, or of some pupil in the class who has a sarcastic 
tongue. Then there is the fear of failure which holds 
many, both young and old, in its grip; and for causing 
this fear, some teachers will need to wear sackcloth and 
ashes for a long time. The fear of examinations and of 
low marks is supposed to be a very salutary fear. How- 
ever, it has always seemed to me that it fails to grip those 
pupils who need it the most, and that it causes harm to 
those who are generally inclined to worry about their 
work. 

2' Monotony. The adult for whom life has settled 
down to a dull repetition both of work and pleasure im- 
mediately recognizes monotony as one of the most op- 
pressive forms of slavery against which he has to struggle. 
Men and women who are caught by it attempt to escape 
by seeking adventure, and are willing to risk health, 
wealth, and reputation in order to get rid of the dead- 
ening feeling. So powerful can monotony become that 
the individual sometimes sees no possibility of escape 
from it and in despair commits suicide. And such a 
monotony is not necessarily one of pain or hard work or 

* Hall. — ^^'A Study of Fears," American Journal of Psychology, 
VIII, 148-249 (1897), 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INITIATIVE IN THINKING 91 

solitude. It may be one of wealth, luxury, or of a con- 
tinuous round of pleasure. 

Is this a slavery of adults only? To one who has 
forgotten his own childhood and who gets his impressions 
of children merely from casual observations of their 
games, it may seem so. However, there is an abundant 
literature to show that children are frequently subject 
to feelings of monotony and boredom. Much of the 
irritability of little children during bad weather is due 
to the fact that they can think of nothing to do, and that 
they become almost desperate on account of the monotony 
before them. And we teachers may as well admit that 
a whole school day may loom up before a little boy as 
such an accumulation of sameness and boredom that he 
really feels sick to think of it. I cannot help but sym- 
pathize a little when I hear a youngster plaintively tell 
his mother in the morning before going to school that 
he is not feeling very well. I can sympathize, too, with 
the boy who, when he thinks of the eight or nine months 
of school ahead of him with nothing but lessons — lessons 
— lessons, wishes that the schoolhouse might burn down 
or that the teacher might get sick ; yes, and with the boy 
who, when spring calls him to freedom and adventure, 
skips school and goes a-fishing. But, of course, I do not 
mean that we should turn school into a circus — even that 
would become monotonous. I do mean that we should 
attempt to understand and genuinely sympathize with 
our pupils when the lonely feeling crowds in upon them 
and life seems dull and gray. Many children come from 
homes or live in surroundings that are full of deadly 
monotony. There is no one to show them interesting 



92 TEACHING TO THINK 

things to do or to tell them about the stirring and inspir- 
ing adventures of life — except the teacher. 

3. Drudgery. The type of slavery commonly termed 
drudgery may be brought about by many causes. It may 
be due to jack of that skill through which a person can 
feel himself a master of his work and without which all 
tasks become tiresome and disagreeable. It may be 
caused by insuflBcient compensation, either in the form 
of money or in appreciation. It may come from the fact 
that the work gives no opportunity for inventiveness or 
change; for thought, in other words. 

Here again we must guard ourselves against the belief 
that it is only adults that are sufferers. Home and school 
tasks may constitute a real drudgery for children. When 
a teacher assigns a lesson without showing the pupil the 
value of that lesson, without giving him sufficient direc- 
tions how to proceed to master it, and without stimulat- 
ing him to contribute something of his own thought, 
learning will become nothing but plain drudgery and the 
spirited pupil must be expected to try to escape it if he 
can. And this drudgery is not limited to any particular 
type of school or class. A university professor some years 
ago made drudgery of a whole term's work in college 
algebra for his students. His assignments took the form 

of "Take the next problems.'' The recitation 

took the form of "You may go to the board." Problems 
were given out and conscientiously worked, or copied 
from the books which some students surreptitiously car- 
ried under their coats. The professor adjusted his glasses 
and wrote O's or 5's or lO's in his class work. Not once 
during the whole term did he try to lift the task of learn- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INITIATIVE IN THINKING 93 

ing algebra from dull drudgery to enthusiastic and spir- 
ited work. Yet, I suppose he received his check regularly 
at the end of each month. If the students could have had 
their way, he would have received a different kind of a 
check. 

4. Superstitions. Sometimes we speak as if supersti- 
tion were a characteristic of the ancient and middle ages 
only. We fail to recognize our own superstitions or those 
of the group to which we belong because they appear to 
Us to be entirely sane and well-founded beliefs. Professor 
Dresslar ^ secured from eight hundred and seventy-five 
normal-school students in California statements of 3225 
beliefs that were distinctly superstitious. When young 
people of the intelligence represented by normal-school 
students entertain so many superstitions, it is not sur- 
prising to find that children coming from homes of the 
less intelligent are dominated by all sorts of curious and 
unfounded beliefs and notions. Children in the grades 
come to school with weird tales of warnings of sickness 
OF death. They tell of signs and wonders in the sky, of 
strange lights. There is implicit faith in fortune tellers, 
luck, mascots, mediums, clairvoyants, quacks, patent 
medicines, water witching and the like. 

Even the most intelligent and well-educated persons 
are affected by many curious beliefs. They may be care- 
ful and critical students in their own field and at the 
same time be exceedingly gullible in other fields. A 
person, who works in a laboratory with machines that 
never exercise any intention to deceive him, may get into 
a general attitude of childlike trust toward his environ- 

^ Dresslar. — Superstition and Education. 



94 TEACHING TO THINK 

ment to such an extent that he becomes an ''easy mark" 
for the sellers of ''gold bricks/' He assumes that agents 
are as honest as laboratory machinery. 

5. Customs and traditions. A custom is a certain 
established way of doing a thing, and a tradition is a 
certain established way of thinking about something. 
They both represent the domination over a generation 
by its ancestors. Practically all our social ceremonies 
have been impressed on us by our parents, and accepted 
by us without question as to why they should be retained. 
Now, while it is true that customs and traditions are 
absolutely necessary for the continuity and stability of 
civilization and culture, it is equally true that blind sub- 
serviance to customs and traditions constitutes a repress- 
ing slavery for the individual. 

6. Conventionality. The uncritical imitation of con- 
temporaries produces conventionality. Here the same 
thing may be said that was stated with regard to customs 
and traditions. The individual who is to attain the 
largest amount of freedom and self-expression must take 
due cognizance of the conventionalities of the group to 
which he belongs; but he must not be a slave to them. 
He must master them and use them in order to accom- 
plish the work which he wishes to perform. 

7. The slavery to rules, sayings, and proverbs. It 
seems very convenient whenever anything a little unusual 
happens to be able to quote some appropriate rule or 
saying, but this indicates, nevertheless, a certain bondage 
of the mind. The citing of rules is a method of avoiding 
direct personal reaction to a situation. It is an attempt 
to have the experience of someone else take the place of 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INITIATIVE IN THINKING 95 

one's own. It means that we attempt to settle questions 
of to-day by the rules of yesterday, when the real issue 
may be caused by the changed conditions which make old 
rules obsolete. The enslaving nature of rules and sayings 
is clearly noticed when one meets a person who has be- 
come an expert in the practice and who attempts to settle 
all problems by memorized rules. The custom stifles 
initiative and thought. 

8. The subjection to authority and to books. The 
uncritical acceptance of authority shows itself most 
clearly in cases where a person has gained a reputation 
in some special field, or has become noted by some public 
service. Thoughtless people at once accept such a one 
as an authority in all fields and on all problems. If the 
person concerned loves the limelight, he will proceed to 
issue interviews and statements on any question brought 
to his mind and thus, himself, become a slave to the 
belief in his own authority. Noted politicians issue 
opinions concerning questions in education or religion, 
preachers lecture on problems in biology, and school- 
masters express their opinions on any matter whatever 
that may be brought to their attention. When a person 
has adopted a certain authority as his special favorite, it 
prevents him from giving due weight to the opinions of 
other investigators and, what is still worse, it prevents 
him from thinking for himself. He becomes nothing but 
the echo of his authority. 

The slavery to books is but another form of the slavery 
to authority. It shows itself in the belief that all learn- 
ing or education necessarily comes from books, and in a 
distrust of, and a lack of appreciation for, all learning that 



96 TEACHING TO THINK 

has sprung from direct experience with things. Scholar- 
ship to the great majority of people means the ability to 
repeat what is found in books. With some it is so narrow 
as to mean the ability to read or repeat what is found 
in certain books or parts of books. It is not long ago that 
it was believed by many — and it is believed at the present 
time by some — that to be educated meant the ability to 
read portions of certain Greek and Latin authors in the 
original, and that persons who were unable to do this 
could not be said to be educated, no matter how wide their 
experience or how efficient their work. Valuable as books 
are for extending one's information, the chief danger in 
their use lies in the fact that they tend to make the reader 
satisfied with information that is second-hand, and that 
they make it possible, whenever a problem arises, for him 
to "read up on if' in place of giving it vigorous personal 
thought. 

9. The slavery to details. This is caused by the lack 
of ability to organize and systematize one's work and to 
delegate it to others. It may be found in all vocations 
and among all classes of people. Men and women run 
to and fro, distracted by the large number of things which 
demand their attention. If it is suggested to them that 
some of their work might very well be done by hired help, 
they wring their hands in despair and claim that no one 
else knows, as they themselves do, exactly what needs to 
be done, and that no one else can do the work as it ought 
to be done, forgetting that some day they will be dead 
and that their work, if it is worth doing, must then be 
cared for by others. 

A considerable number of teachers suffer under this 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INITIATIVE IN THINKING 97 

form of slavery. They are as a rule exceedingly con- 
scientious about their work — too conscientious in fact. 
They are so concerned about having everything done 
''just so/' that it never occurs to them to let the pupils 
do things. The result is that the pupils fail to get the 
training which they are entitled to, and the teachers get 
nervous prostration. 

Once in a while pupils suffer from this slavery. A 
conscientious child — usually a girl — comes home excited 
and nervous, complaining that she has too much to do. 
The teachers have assigned ''awfuV' lessons; there is to 
be a quiz; furthermore she is to play or read at the 
general assembly to-morrow, and in addition she has to 
find a frog and a centipede. 

We have all had more or less of this experience. We 
have felt our nerves give way under excitement and ir- 
ritation, because of the many demands upon us. The 
word slavery is too mild a term. It is tyranny, this dis- 
tracting multitudinousness of things and duties. 

How common are these forms of slavery in ordinary 
daily life? Do you know of any business men who have 
been only partially successful, or who have failed in their 
business because they fell into a rut of their own habits, 
were, blind followers of custom and conventionality, de- 
pended too much or too little on others, failed to organize 
and master their business and thus lost their own power 
of initiative and creativeness? Do you know of any 
teachers who have failed to attain the success for which 
their friends and neighbors, who knew their talents, had 
hoped? To what forms of slavery did they fall as vic- 
tims? Did they lose their self-confidence and capitulate 



98 TEACHING TO THINK 

to the fear of failure? Did they become the servants of 
rules and precedents? Did they turn into book-worms and 
citers of authorities and so lose the soul of education, the 
first-hand contact with real problems? Call the roll of 
the common vocations of men and women. Why is it 
that so many of those who possess excellent native ability 
remain in the obscurity of mediocrity and fail to make 
any notable contributions to the welfare of their fellow- 
men? 

This is the answer. He who is unable to think inde- 
pendently, and who lacks initiative and creativeness, can- 
not overcome the forces and conditions which tend to 
enslave him and can never achieve anything more than 
mediocrity. Leadership requires the attainment of per- 
sonal freedom and the ability to think and act, not only 
differently than others, but also better. 

This brings us face to face with a very important prob- 
lem. How can initiative be developed? What can we 
do to cultivate it in our pupils? 

First let us recall the fundamental principle that it 
can be accomplished only through practice on the part 
of the pupils. We must begin by letting them think for 
themselves and by allowing them to initiate things. This 
is a trite saying, but every teacher who is anxious to pro- 
mote the welfare of his pupils is so often tempted to try to 
do it by thinking and doing things for them, that he must 
continually remind himself that his purpose cannot be 
accomplished in that way. 

The second rule or principle is even more common- 
place. Let the pupils begin by practicing those forms of 
initiative which they naturally incline to and like. Are 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INITIATIVE IN THINKING 99 

there any such? Curiosity is perhaps the earliest form 
of initiative to manifest itself in the individual. Little 
children are naturally full of curiosity and wonder, and 
as a result ask innumerable questions. Why not begin 
by utilizing this important instinct or talent? 

"But/' someone may say, "that would mean to let the 
pupils have entire freedom to ask all the silly questions 
they please, and the result would be that they would 
waste time and that they would try to get their informa- 
tion by asking questions in place of studying their lessons. 
Children come to school for the purpose of learning to 
answer questions, not to ask them.'' Let it be granted 
that there will be some silly questions asked. That does 
not imply, however, that the pupils shall be allowed to 
continue asking such questions. They must develop the 
ability to distinguish between useless and useful ques- 
tions. How can that be done? 

If the task was merely that of taking a thousand ques- 
tions and separating them into two or more groups ac- 
cording to their amount of sense or degree of useful- 
ness, it could be done very readily by the teacher. But 
that is not the task at all. The real problem is so to de- 
velop our pupils that they will be able to determine the 
values of questions when there is no teacher to guide 
them. Let us suggest one or two practical methods, 
bearing in mind that there are two chief purposes to be 
accomplished: (1) Pupils must be trained to ask ques- 
tions freely. (2) They must be trained to evaluate their 
questions. 

Suppose a class in geography has had a brief introduc- 
tory lesson on the Erie Canal, with the principal purpose 



100 TEACHING TO THINK 

of motivating questions and further study. Suppose fur- 
ther that the next assignment is made by suggesting that 
each pupil shall bring to the next recitation period as 
many questions as he can think of about the canal. If 
competition is desired in order to stimulate greater effort, 
a simple record can be provided to show the achievement 
of each pupil. The object is to get questions, wise or 
foolish. A foolish question is much better than no ques- 
tion at all. Pupils whose minds refuse to work should 
be aided by suggestions which will enable them to get 
started. Get every pupil to ask some questions. 

When the class meets again a record is made of the 
number of questions presented by each pupil, preferably 
in the form of a table on the blackboard. Care should 
be taken to commend the efforts of the less successful and 
to stimulate them with ambition to improve. A profit- 
able discussion may be secured by getting the pupils who 
thought of many questions to tell how they did it, and 
by letting the class enter into a committee session on 
how to think of questions about the Erie Canal. 

The next problem is that of evaluating the questions 
that have been presented. The easiest method would be 
for the teacher to grade them. The better way is to let 
the pupils evaluate the questions. How? First make 
a list of all the questions that have been asked and, by a 
checkmark, indicate how many pupils asked each ques- 
tion. This will produce an excellent exercise in interpre- 
tation. Two questions may be worded quite differently 
and yet mean the same thing. 

When the questions have been listed, the number of 
checkmarks after each one will serve as a rough measure 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INITIATIVE IN THINKING 101 

of the importance of that question. Those questions 
which have been asked by the largest number of pupils 
may be assumed to be, for the pupils in that class, the 
most important ; that is, they represent the consensus of 
"common sense'' of the class. Any pupil should have 
the right to propose a rearrangement in the ranking of 
the questions by suggesting that some specific question 
be considered of more significance than some other. This 
will naturally lead to a spirited debate which, if guided, 
should result in some insight into the purposes of ques- 
tions and their general characteristics. If a pupil is able 
to convince the class, the ranking of the questions is 
changed according to his suggestion. Final judgment 
concerning the quality of the questions should be reserved 
until their answers have been found. 

The next assignment should consist in finding answers 
to the questions that have been asked. These answers 
and a general discussion will constitute the next recita- 
tion, at the end of which the questions are given another 
rating. It may now appear that some question, which 
was not rated very highly the first time, has proven a 
very profitable one by bringing out valuable and inter- 
esting information. It may happen that a question which 
was rated highly turned out to be quite unimportant. 
It may be that valuable information has been presented 
about which no question had been asked. A guided gen- 
eral discussion should bring out any such points before 
the final vote is taken as to which questions really proved 
the most valuable in regard to the topic at hand. 

When the study of a topic has been completed, the lists 
of questions which have been submitted on the various 



102 TEACHING TO THINK 

subtopics should be examined by the pupils, and a selec- 
tion made for a final review of the whole topic. This 
gives opportunity for a new evaluation by bringing out 
the importance of questions that call for reorganization 
of the material, comparisons, and applications. 

What are some of the specific values which may be 
claimed for this general method of stimulating and 
evaluating questions? (1) It calls for initiative on the 
part of every pupil. (2) It makes it possible for the 
teacher to study each pupil and to give him such indi- 
vidual attention as he needs. (3) It furnishes materials 
and motives for vigorous class discussion, because each 
pupil will feel an interest in defending his own questions. 
(4) It affords excellent opportunity for the cultivation 
of analysis and interpretation, as well as in classification 
of the questions. (5) It requires the exercise of judgment 
of relative values of the questions. (6) It gives practice 
in the suspension of judgment and in revision of one's 
first impression. (7) It gives practice in group thinking 
and in the producing of a consensus of opinion, in in- 
fluencing such opinion and in submitting to it when 
formed. (8) It gives the pupils an opportunity to de- 
termine for themselves whether a given fact is relevant 
or irrelevant, valuable or simply a matter of idle curiosity. 

The method proposed may be varied in a great many 
ways. The assignment may call for a definite number 
of questions from each pupil, thus compelling those with 
less initiative to exert themselves. Those who cannot 
think of questions readily should be encouraged to come 
to the teacher for suggestions, and the teacher should 
show them how to get started. The individual reports 



\ 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF INITIATIVE IN THINKING 103 

of questions may be turned over to a committee to be 
tabulated and reported upon at the time of the recitation. 
This gives opportunity for committee work, of which 
there should be much more than there is in the ordinary 
school. A score card for questions can be developed and 
the questions evaluated accordingly. 

With the training in asking and evaluating questions 
should go some instruction in best ways and means for 
finding answers to the questions. The lists of questions, 
or a selected number, may be used for the general review 
of a topic or of a whole subject. Recitations may occa- 
sionally be conducted in the form of a group quiz, in 
which some pupil selected for the purpose puts the ques- 
tions to the other pupils. In this way a recitation can 
secure some of the good results obtained by students who 
come together and quiz each other before the examina- 
tion. A simple score can easily be kept to show the 
record of each participant. 

Do not require that a pupil who asks a question shall 
himself know the answer. The main purpose of questions 
in school should be, as it is outside of school, to gain in- 
formation. It should not be to find out whether another 
person knows what we know. In one way it is probably 
one of the severest criticisms that can be passed on our 
teaching and on the management of our schools, that real 
questions for information are so rare and that the inquisi- 
tive cross-questioning to find out whether someone else 
knows what we know is so common. What a stimulating 
thing it would be if the teacher did not know before 
asking what the answer should be but really asked a pupil 
for information. Just imagine for a moment a school in 



104 TEACHING TO THINK 

which the teacher does not know very much but has a 
fine ability to ask for information and to arouse genuine 
questions in the minds of the pupils so that it keeps both 
him and the pupils busy trying to find out what they 
want to know. I suppose the reader will feel, as I do, 
that ^^It can't be done/' but it should be possible occa- 
sionally in any school, especially at the opening of school 
in the fall, when even the teachers have forgotten some- 
thing of all that they know. 

Somewhere I have heard it suggested, that to retain 
the sense of curiosity and wonder is the best antidote 
for mental old age. It appeals to me as a very reasonable 
idea. I have seen fine old grandpas and grandmas who 
were genuinely curious about the new and important de- 
velopments in the world about them. They seemed to 
me youngsters compared with other people that I have 
seen, who are ready to lecture on any topic that may be 
suggested and whose students fill notebooks with infor- 
mation about which they care not a fig — after the term 
examinations have been passed. 

But is there not some danger that in developing the 
ability to ask questions we may foster an attitude of 
general skepticism which is essentially negative and non- 
productive? Decidedly not, provided we keep to our 
first aim, that of developing the ability to ask for infor- 
mation and to evaluate the questions. The skeptic does 
not, as a rule, ask for information, neither does he stop 
to consider whether his questions are profitable. What 
I have had in mind is the attitude of the scientific in- 
quirer after reliable and important information. 

It is true, however, that it may at times be embarrass- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INITIATIVE IN THINKING 105 

ing for us grown-ups to have the children feel free to ask 
questions about anything that they wish to know. We 
all seem to know so much that is not so, that we are 
in constant danger of being caught bluflSng. Then, too, 
we hate to admit that we do not know a very great deal 
indeed. Of course, if we stop to consider the number of 
fields of information about which we are wholly ignorant, 
it should not embarrass us verj^ much to say in response 
to a question, '^I do not know, but I should like to find 
out.'' And it would not embarrass us at all, if it were not 
for the fact that, in our youth, we had some teachers who 
made us feel ashamed whenever we did not succeed in 
hiding our ignorance when they asked us questions or 
whenever we became ventursome enough to ask about 
things that we did not understand. Now we do to our 
pupils what our teachers did to us; do it because we are 
the slaves of custom and tradition and are unable to break 
the bonds that hold us. Yet we agree that in a first class 
school no child should ever feel ashamed to ask for in- 
formation or of admitting his ignorance whenever he 
lacks information. 

If I could start as a boy again and have everything 
that I would like, I should want to have among my 
teachers one who was delightfully ignorant of everything 
and intensely curious to learn. 

This discussion has emphasized the development of 
genuine curiosity and the ability to ask intelligent ques- 
tions, because they constitute the basis of initiative. The 
reader will understand that exercises, such as those which 
have been described, are intended merely as suggestions 
of the type of work which should be done whenever suit- 



106 TEACHING TO THINK 

able occasions present themselves. There are other forms 
of initiative; such as imagination, problem solving, or- 
ganization and development of plans. These will be dis- 
cussed in succeeding chapters. 

THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. Make a list of the things of which your pupils are afraid. 
Classify the fears as helpful or objectionable. How can you 
remove or change the objectionable fears? 

2. Make a list of situations or conditions that you regard 
as monotonous. What remedies have you against monotony? 
What remedies do you use in your school? 

3. Make a list of what you consider cases of drudgery? 
How could they be relieved? 

4. Make a list of the methods which you are employing for 
teaching a specific subject. How many of them have been 
adopted through uncritical imitation and without any evalua- 
tion of their practical utility as compared with other methods 
that might be used? 

5. Make a list of things usually done by the teacher which 
in your school could well be done by the pupils, provided they 
received some training for such work. 

6. On a convenient score sheet keep a record of the number 
of questions asked by the pupils of your school during one 
day. What classes are productive of the largest number of 
questions? The smallest? Why? 

7. Professor Swift ^ reports that in a study of eminent men 
and women he discovered more than fifty who were considered 
stupid by their teachers. Do you think teachers would make 
such mistakes if they encouraged and valued questions by 
the pupils? 

8. In what ways do the Boy Scout activities tend to liberate 
the minds of boys? 

9. Make a list of the questions that have been started by 
the World War. How do such questions tend to liberate the 
minds of people? 

^ Swift. — Mind in the Making, Ch. I. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF INITIATIVE IN THINKING 107 

10. Do you think, from your knowledge of history, that this 
would be a true statement: Progress in any activity begins 
through the occurrence and formulation of new questions in 
regard to that activity? 



VII 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGINATIVE 

THINKING 

In the preceding chapter I attempted to show that one 
of the purposes of education is to liberate the individual 
mind from the various forms of slavery which hold it. 
The development of ability to ask profitable questions is 
the first step in this liberation. Imaginative thinking 
constitutes another important step, and to the considera- 
tion of this topic we shall now devote ourselves. What 
do we mean by imaginative thinking? Of what impor- 
tance is such thinking in daily life? What place, if any, 
has it had or does it have in our schools? How may such 
thinking be developed? These are some of the questions 
to be answered. 

First, what do we mean by imaginative thinking? 
Textbooks in psychology written some years ago had 
separate chapters on memory and on imagination. Re- 
cently there appears to be a tendency to merge the two 
topics into one and to account for the processes involved 
by the same explanation ; namely, that they are brought 
about according to the laws of association. 

From the standpoint of thinking there is a distinct 

difference between the two processes. If a person tries 

to recall the events of yesterday's automobile ride, the 

chief interest is turned toward the past and an effort is 

108 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGHSTATIVE THINKING 109 

made to recall the events as they actually happened. In 
other words, the reliability of a person's memory is dem- 
onstrated by his ability to tell "the whole truth and noth- 
ing but the truth. '^ Suppose, now, that we try to imagine 
a new sort of a ride. It will be true that the materials 
used consist of previous experiences or bits of experiences, 
but the chief aim will not be to reproduce the past; on 
the contrary, it will be to avoid reproducing the past. 
The ability of an individual to exercise imagination is 
shown, not by reproducing the past, but by producing 
new combinations and reconstructions to satisfy some 
present or future want or aim. Because of this forward 
look, imagination is here regarded as a form of thinking. 
If it differs from some other types of thinking, it is merely 
in the specific purpose which is sought or in the amount 
of careful verification employed. 

An exercise or two will make more clear what I have 
been trying to say. Take pencil and paper and in two 
minutes write as many words as you can to rhyme with 
the word tarry. You will find it interesting to compare 
your results with the following lists produced by two 
college students: A. Tarry, ferry, airy, berry, bury, Gary, 
dairy, fairy, Gary, Gerry, Harry, hairy, Jerry, Larry, Sary, 
very, wary, Rosemary, Tipperary, alimentary, elemen- 
tary, fragmentary. B. Harry, carry, bury, dairy, quarry, 
scary, flarry, dare he, care he (square it, dare it). This 
exercise so closely resembles that of trying to recall names 
of persons or places or the equivalents of words in a for- 
eign language that one may, at the first thought, conclude 
that they are identical. On closer examination, however, 
the difference becomes quite clear. 



110 TEACHING TO THINK 

The exercise called for no reproduction of a past ex- 
perience. It did call for the use of bits of past experience 
in a new way, and the excellence of the performance can- 
not be measured by any reference to the past. A person 
might conceivably produce a series of words that would 
make very imperfect rhymes or no rhymes at all. The 
process of recall according to the laws of association 
would be the same as in all recall of past experiences, 
and, as far as the past is concerned, might be entirely 
trustworthy. The point is, that what may be perfectly 
good recall, in so far as the past is concerned, may be 
very poor imagination, in so far as satisfying present 
needs is concerned. Incidentally, it is interesting to note 
how differently the minds of the two students worked. 
After recalling the word jerry, student A evidently went 
through the alphabet in a systematic search for suitable 
words. Student B went hit or miss. The number of 
words produced by each individual indicates sufficiently 
the relative merits of the two methods. 

Now try this exercise: Take your pencil and paper and 
in three minutes write as many similes as you can for 
"Two friends walking together.'' To illustrate: They 
are like a well-matched team, They are like Jonathan 
and David. Here, too, it will be noticed that the aim is 
not that of reproducing part or all of any previous ex- 
perience. It is rather that of using bits of past experience 
in a new combination. The main difference between this 
exercise and the former one is that in this one the associa- 
tions or bonds by which recall is made are more vague 
and uncertain and, consequently, one has to wait longer 
for each idea to occur. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGINATIVE THINKING 111 

Next try this exercise, which I am sure you will enjoy 
very much: Draw a picture of an animal such as no 
person has ever seen. Figure 3 gives samples of some 
of the best drawings that I have secured from college 
students. 

Two things stand out quite clearly as a result of these 
exercises. First, that imaginative thinking depends for 
its content on memory material and that recall operates 
according to the laws of association. A person's ability 
to imagine things is therefore dependent on his fund of 
available memories, and the productions of different in- 
dividuals will differ according to the previous experiences 
of those individuals. Second, that imaginative thinking 
also depends on a want to be satisfied or an aim to be 
attained. Since this aim is the production of something 
new and not a reproduction of a past experience, the 
process is essentially one of thought rather than of 
memory. 

Newspaper and magazine cartoons make fine material 
for the study of imaginative thinking. If one gathers a 
number of them and studies them for the purpose of 
discovering what the cartoonist really has done, some of 
the more common forms of imaginative thinking will 
stand out very clearly. One notices, first of all, the rather 
common method of magnifying or minifying things or 
parts of things- There are figures with enlarged heads, 
noses, mouths, teeth, hands, feet, and chests. There are 
diminutive bodies with large heads or diminutive heads 
with large bodies. There are small animals with large 
riders. There are tiny vehicles drawn by diminutive mice 
and containing diminutive princes and princesses. 




Fig. 3. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGINATIVE THINKING 113 

Another method consists in separating things into parts 
and combining the parts into new wholes. Cartoonists 
are evidently very skillful in concentrating their atten- 
tion on specific aspects of things or situations and in dis- 
regarding all the rest. This enables them to picture with 
a few strokes what they want to convey. This ability to 
separate and re-combine produces an endless variety of 
cartoons. Heads of persons appear on the bodies of 
animals, or branches of trees, or stalks of corn. A new 
racing animal is made up of the forepart of a horse and 
the tail of a rooster. New kinds of faces are constructed 
by using the beak of an eagle for a nose, or weeds for hair. 

Whether these processes are due to a tendency of mem- 
ories to fuse, disintegrate, or lose their original spatial 
and time relations, and whether such changes occur 
naturally to a larger extent in the minds of imaginative 
persons than in the minds of others is of little conse- 
quence to the teacher. The main question is whether 
the ability to do imaginative thinking can be developed 
by practice and whether the results are such as to be 
worth the practice. This raises the problem concerning 
the value of such thinking in the affairs of daily life. 

Perhaps the first thought which occurs to us as we con- 
sider this problem is that of fairy stories and myths such 
as we learned in our childhood. We are inclined to regard 
these as having merely an entertainment value not to be 
compared with the real and substantial things of life. 
But myths and fairy stories were once the only explana- 
tions which people had for the various phenomena of 
nature and served the same purpose as science and 
philosophy do for us. To believe that the winds were 



114 TEACHING TO THINK 

the breath of giants, no doubt satisfied the minds of people 
in primitive times quite as well as the chapter on winds 
in our modern geographies satisfies the minds of our 
pupils. Perhaps many of the explanations which now 
appear entirely satisfactory to us will seem like fairy 
stories and myths to people who will go to school a thou- 
sand years from now. 

Then perhaps we shall think of all the literature in 
all languages, distinguished from other printed matter 
mainly by the elements of imaginative thought which it 
contains and trough which it interprets and reconstructs 
human life and pictures its ideals. Also there are all the 
productions of fine art which are distinguished from other 
productions by the same elements. 

Next we think of all the inventions and discoveries that 
have been made because men had the ability to break 
away from mere reproduction of the past and to picture 
to themselves places and conditions different from those 
which they had seen before. Then, too, there are all the 
scientific discoveries that have been made possible by 
the ability of investigators to formulate hypotheses, or 
tentative explanations, many of which at first seemed as 
fanciful as fairy stories and myths. 

We must also consider all the plans and forms of or- 
ganization and operation in the industrial and commer- 
cial world, all of which have been developed bit by bit 
through the ability of individuals to break up and recon- 
struct their previous experience into forms differing from 
the things and methods of the past. 

Last, but not least, let us think of the hosts of men 
and women on farms, in stores, in shops, in professions, 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGINATIVE THINKING 115 

and in occupations of unskilled labor, who are struggling 
with all manner of inconveniences in the ordinary drudg- 
ery of everyday life. Some are able to picture to them- 
selves new and more convenient arrangements to save 
labor and diminish the annoyances of their work. The 
majority can think of to-morrow merely as a repetition of 
to-day. For them whatever was and is, forever shall be. 
Who has not seen families living under conditions so 
inconvenient and annoying that it is a marvel to behold, 
where just a little imaginative thought and reconstruction 
would have transformed the situation altogether. 

In thinking of these various phases of life, we do well 
to bear in mind that the advance made in any depart- 
ment of life, while in a measure due to the genius of 
certain individuals, does represent, too, the contributions 
of a multitude of ordinary men and women who, each in 
their own place, conceived new aims and ideals and 
thought out ways and means not previously known. 

Summing it all up, it looks as if this world would be a 
lonesome and troublous place if it were not for the ability 
which we have to think of new things and to tell the 
story of life, not according to the formula: "the truth 
and nothing but the truth," but rather to this, — "the old 
things are passed away; behold they are become new." 

Imaginative thinking seems to play a very important 
part in the affairs of everyday life. Does it occupy an 
equally important place in the work of our schools? If 
we were to make a tour of visits to a number of ordinary 
rural and city schools, and if we were to spend one hun- 
dred hours in actual observation of school work, how 
much of that time could we expect to find devoted to the 



116 TEACHING TO THINK 

development of imaginative thought? If the teachers 
whose rooms we might visit wished to have their pupils 
make a good showing — and they ought to wish that — 
what would they do? Would not the majority of them 
show us how well the pupils had mastered something or 
other which had been memorized? 

Now we must be fair in this matter. We should no 
doubt come to some schools where the teacher and the 
pupils would be anxious to show us some project on which 
they were working, something which they had thought 
out and planned and in the accomplishment of which 
they were intensely interested. We should find inven- 
tions and schemes revealing the talents of genius. In 
the majority of schools, however, we should find the 
humdrum of memorizing and drill, of preparation for 
recitations and quizzes and examinations in which prac- 
tically every question would be a memory question. 

However, conditions might not be quite so dull as they 
seem. Even in the most prosy school we should find a 
good deal of imaginative thinking. Pupils who appar- 
ently are studying their lessons very seriously may be 
busily engaged in thinking out plans and schemes for 
a fishing trip, for harnessing the dog or the goat to the 
express wagon, for putting a yoke on two calves, for 
making a ski jump, or for a new method of playing a joke 
on the teacher. Notes keep diplomatic relations alive 
between the creative minds, and the sparkling eyes reveal 
to the experienced observer that, although the school 
looks prosy in its outward demeanor, there is much of the 
creative joy of the true artist inside some of the heads. 

Now, some visitors would call such things the signs 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGINATIVE THINKING 117 

of mischief and suggest that reproof should be adminis- 
tered. Not so. Mischief in school is merely a symptom 
which shows that the children have active minds and 
creative talent, and that the teacher has been unable to 
interest them in the real work of the school. 

Should the teachers in such schools be reproved? No. 
They may be as anxious to escape the humdrum of the 
school as their pupils, and they would escape if they 
knew how. Some of them would quit teaching if they 
could think of something else that they would like to do. 
They are to be pitied rather than reproved, for they have 
been taught as they now teach. If their minds ever had 
wings for vigorous flight, they were clipped by the dead- 
ening influence of routine, and now they are unable to 
rise above the commonplace drudgery of their work. 

Well, then, let us give them a few suggestions to show 
what they might do in their schools. Have you ever tried 
to suggest projects to a person who can think only of 
what has been and is, and not of what might be? What 
will such a teacher do? When you have gone he may, 
even if he seemed quite enthusiastic about your idea, 
gradually lose that enthusiasm and decide to let the sug- 
gestion go, as it would upset things to put it into opera- 
tion. Or, and this is more likely to happen, he may de- 
cide to follow the suggestion, but he will do nothing more 
than follow. He will try to use the suggestion as if it 
were a prescription, and as soon as something happens 
which was not mentioned in the original suggestion, he 
will be unable to think of what to do next and conclude 
that the whole plan was impracticable. 

The difiBculty in which such teachers are is not so much 



118 TEACHING TO THINK 

the present lack of plans for something to do; it is rather 
the lack of ability to conceive plans. To make sugges- 
tions to them is like hanging apples on a tree that does 
not bear apples. This is the principal reason why super- 
intendents make so few suggestions to their teachers. 

At times there is another reason. The superintendent 
may himself be suffering from the results of his training 
and he may find it hard work to think of something to 
suggest. 

What I have been trying to say, but am afraid I have 
not yet made clear, is that we should blame no individual 
for this lack of ingenuity or inventiveness on the part of 
teachers or pupils. It is a condition which we have re- 
ceived from those who were before us and which they in 
turn received from their forbears. That does not mean, 
however, that we should now be satisfied with things as 
they are. The situation, if we meet it properly, can itself 
be our opportunity for exercising ingenuity. In other 
words, the lack of imaginative thought in our schools is 
itself a real problem for imaginative thinking. 

What can be done to give imaginative thinking the 
prominent place in our schools which it requires for suc- 
cess in daily life? First of all we must become thor- 
oughly aware of its real importance. More than that, 
we must become so enthusiastic and zealous about this 
thing that we shall insist on promoting it. How can we 
attain such an enthusiasm? By a deeper and more ap- 
preciative study of real life. We must read and think 
more about the creative minds which have made possible 
the great achievements of the race in inventions and 
discoveries, in science, literature, art, and religion, in in- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGINATIVE THINKING 119 

stitutions and government. We must consider more than 
we have the importance of the smaller successes, in 
our immediate surroundings. It must become a hobby 
with us to look for successful creative work, and to study 
the means and methods by which it is achieved. 

In the next place we must cultivate more enthusiasm 
for the imaginative thinking which our pupils do outside 
the regular work of the school. We must secure their 
confidence to such an extent that whenever anyone of 
them thinks of something to do or of some scheme for 
accomplishing something, he will have no hesitation 
about telling it to the teacher, knowing that the teacher 
will understand and be interested. Progressive factories 
and business establishments have systems by which they 
offer prizes for suggestions from their employees. Schools 
ought to have plans for encouraging suggestions from 
their pupils. Part of the credit in any subject might well 
be earned by thinking of useful things to do and of ways 
and means for accomplishing them. If a pupil happens 
to think of a plan or a scheme which does not seem to be 
profitable at the time, he should not be discouraged but 
should be aided to think more carefully and to amend 
his plan so as to make it fit the needs of the school. 

Would this include schemes for mischief? Yes, why 
not? Mischief is entertainment. The main difl&culty 
with it is that it does not fit into the regular routine of 
the school. But entertainment in the form of harmless 
enjoyment is a very important element of life. The big- 
gest salaries paid to-day go to those who are clever at 
inventing entertainment. Some of the most popular 
books are stories of mischief and fun — and observe^ — 



120 TEACHING TO THINK 

people of all classes enjoy reading them. Look at the 
man who has just bought a newspaper. First he glances 
at the headlines on the front page, then he turns to the 
last page to look at the cartoons and to read the things 
that are funny. 

If fun is of such importance in daily life, should it not 
have a place in our schools? We have made no provision 
for it in the ordinary school program; consequently, 
whenever a pupil gets an idea of some good fun, an idea 
so vigorous that he must tell it to somebody and promote 
it, he can do so only by becoming a culprit in the eyes 
of the teacher. If a pupil has real genius for inventing 
fun he is expelled from school and later may earn a salary 
of several hundred thousand dollars a year just by think- 
ing of funny things. 

What I am driving at is this. Our school program 
should give recognition to harmless enjoyment as an 
essential part of education, and encourage the pupils to 
think of ways and means for having a good time. Some 
schools are already doing this very thing by dividing the 
school day between study, work with the hands, and play; 
all recognized as essential elements in a child's education. 

It may be claimed that children have always played 
during recess and noon intermissions. Anyone who has 
seen children at play on the school ground must admit, 
however, that such play represents only a part of the 
skill which children should develop for having good 
wholesome fun. There is little or no opportunity for 
inventiveness for the simple reason that there is nothing 
to work with. And some of the modern apparatus for 
playgrounds isn't much of an improvement. There are 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGINATIVE THINKING 121 

swings and poles and ladders; but they are all fixed and 
complete and one cannot "do anything'' with them. 
' They are like the multiplication table to be accepted as 
they are. A plaything or play apparatus to develop in- 
genuity and creativeness must be such that the child can 
manipulate it and change it to suit the needs of the 
moment. 

I have never seen, but I should like to see, a recitation 
— no, it hardly seems proper to call it a recitation — I 
should like to see a "period of fun'' on the program of our 
schools. It should be a period when all schemes for en- 
joyment would be welcomed, tried, evaluated, adapted, 
improved. Ability to invent good fun should be valued 
as highly as ability to recite in the school subjects. 

Fifteen or twenty years ago institute conductors had 
much to say about observation and sense training. Such 
questions as "How many upper teeth has a cow?" "On 
what side of the horns are the ears?" "Does a cow get 
up with her front feet first?" greatly embarrassed the 
teachers. They did not think of asking questions in re- 
turn ; but if they had inquired of the professor as to the 
number of eyelets in his shoes, buttonholes on his vest, 
buttons on his coat, or length of his necktie, their hu- 
miliation would have vanished. We used to think that the 
inability to answer such trivial questions was evidence of 
a defect in our "power of observation," whatever that 
might be. We also thought that by going about and 
trying to see and hear things our "power of observation" 
would be improved. 

Since that time things have changed very much. Eye 
and ear tests, as well as tests of some of the other senses, 



122 TEACHING TO THINK 

have become common in our schools. Observation work 
is conducted, not for the purpose of strengthening some 
"power of observation/' but for the sake of supplying ex- 
perience concerning things of vital interest. Granting 
the possession of a reasonably good eye, the ability to see 
depends on the fund of experience which one possesses 
concerning the thing seen. Seeing is interpreting. 

A girl who had been blind from birth and who had been 
educated in the State School for the Blind and there re- 
ceived a high school education, obtained her sight by a 
successful operation when she was twenty-one years old. 
Three years later she was examined by Professor Miner.^ 
He found that she had not yet learned to translate suc- 
cessfully her visual images into terms of movement. She 
did not identify people by their faces, but recognized 
them mainly by the sound of their voices. New things 
were explained by reference to her sightless experience. 
Shadows seemed like real objects to her. She could not 
perceive distances correctly and frequently upset dishes 
on the table. In other words, while her eyes could see, 
she could not interpret or understand what she saw be- 
cause she lacked the required experience. 

Training in observation means getting interested in 
some problem or project, letting one's curiosity have free 
play, getting direct information in answer to the ques- 
tions in mind, and weaving the information together into 
a group of ideas, so that, whenever similar problems arise, 
the whole experience tends to be recalled. Such problems 
as. How do soils differ in their capacity to hold moisture? 

^ Miner. — ''A Case of Vision Acquired in Adult Size," Psychological 
Review Monograph, 1905. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGINATIVE THINKING 123 

What are the effects of freezing on the structure of soils? 
What are the factors which influence the germination of 
seeds? show how teachers can guide observation work 
so as to produce valuable groups of ideas which will con- 
stitute much better material for imaginative thinking 
than a large number of isolated facts. 

What I have been trying to say is this. The informa- 
tion which will make the most valuable raw material for 
imaginative thinking can best be secured through exer- 
cises which themselves involve such thinking. Too much 
of our information is encyclopedic in its nature and does 
not have even an alphabetical arrangement by which we 
can pass from one idea to another when we wish to. No 
amount of information in the form of unrelated facts 
committed to memory is likely to develop a person into 
an efficient and creative thinker. 

To illustrate how information can profitably be gath- 
ered by means of projects or problems which involve the 
exercise of imaginative thinking on the part of the pupils, 
I give the following list of exercises selected from The 
Motivation of School Work by Wilson and Wilson: ^ 

Reading: (a) Learning to read words' and statements in 
order to understand the directions given for games played in 
the primary grade, (b) Learning to read in order to under- 
stand little notes, invitations, etc., sent from pupil to pupil, 
(c) Learning to read in order to entertain the class or the 
school or invited guests. 

Language and composition: (a) Writing to papers in com- 
petition for prizes, (b) Competing for prizes offered by local 
people, (c) Problems in communication such as invitations, 
requests for information, letters of thanks, letters written to 
please people, etc. (d) Descriptions and narratives of inter- 

^ Wilson and Wilson. — The Motivation of School Work; 1916. 



124 TEACHING TO THINK 

esting things and events for the benefit of others, (e) Prepa- 
ration of programs, (f) Preservation of records by means of 
school papers, bound notebooks on file in the library, etc. 
One teacher is reported as having taught all the language 
work of a sixth grade through the means of thirty-eight pieces 
of motivated work. 

History: (a) Reliving the past by reconstructing it through 
dramatizing (for example, the Constitutional Convention), 
or by means of pageants, (b) Searching for information by 
which to understand or solve modern problems, (c) Making 
contributions to the work of the class. 

Geography: (a) Information related to everyday affairs; 
as, for example, to articles of food, clothing, etc. (b) Infor- 
mation needed to understand current events, (c) Information 
needed to understand books of travel, biography, romance, etc. 
(d) Geography games. 

Arithmetic: (a) Competition, games, etc. (b) Practical 
problems in Manual Training, Domestic Science, and Agricul- 
ture, (c) Practical problems from the homes of the pupils, 
(d) Imaginary problems. 

Writing: (a) Projects in correspondence either in or out of 
school, (b) Pupils constructing learning curves to show their 
own progress as measured by a handwriting scale, (c) Con- 
struction of curves to show the improvement of the class. 

Spelling: Projects similar to those mentioned for writing. 

Music: Class and school programs. Programs for special 
days. Correlation of musical programs with literature, his- 
tory, geography, etc. 

Drawing: Exhibits, competition for prizes, etc. 

Home Economics: Correlation with history. Construction 
of articles of use* in the home. 

Manual Training: Repairing or making things for people 
in the community. Inventing new things. 

The method of teaching by means of projects will be 
dead and formal, or vital and stimulating, in proportion 
to the amount of imaginative thinking done by the 
pupils. If the teacher does all the planning, the outward 
results of the work may be very fine for a school exhibit 



I 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGINATIVE THINKING 125 

while the inner results for the pupils are worthless. If 
the teacher knows how to lead the pupils to hit upon 
worthy projects, to think of practical ways and means for 
reaching the aim set, and for evaluating their own work, 
this method is most dynamic for developing skill in 
imaginative thinking. 

A number of simple and interesting tests have been 
devised for measuring the ability of pupils to do imagina- 
tive thinking. The following are some of those most 
commonly used : '• 

1. The interpretation of ink blots. Pieces of paper, 
usually twenty, with ink blots made by pressing a drop 
of ink between two sheets of paper are used. The pupil 
takes each sheet in turn and writes what the blot suggests 
to him. The score consists of the number of ideas, or 
responses, made in a given time or else in the time re- 
quired for responding to the entire series. Young pupils 
are said to do better with this than older pupils or adults. 

2. The word-building test. A number of letters, 
such as a, e, i, r, I, p, are given and the pupils are to make 
as many words as they can in a given time by combining 
the letters. No letter must be used twice in the same 
word, and no other letters than those given must be used. 

The following scores were made by two classes of col- 
lege juniors and seniors^ : 

* Samples of lists that were produced: 

(Boy) — Real, rip, I, lip, ail, ear (2 min.) ; rap (4 min.). 

(Girl) — Ale, air, bar, bale, rob (2 min.); rib, lie, roe, earl (4 min.). 

(Boy) — Air, are, lair, pair, pare, lap, pale, pail, rail, rale, leap, peal, 
lire, liar, pie, ripe, rip, lip, pea, per, reap, real, ale, ail, lie (2 min.) ; 
ape (4 min.). 

(Girl) — A, I, are, ear, pail, rail, rip, lip, pea, pie, pear, lair, pearl 
(2 min.); ape, real, peal, earl, lea, lie, ripe (4 min.). 



126 TEACHING TO THINK 

Median number of words during the first two minutes: 

24 boys 12.0 42 girls 11.4 
Median number of words during the second two-minute 
period : 

24 boys 5.5 42 girls 5.0 
3. The sentence-building test. The task consists in 
making as many sentences as possible in a given time, 
each sentence to contain certain specific words and any 
other words that the worker may choose. The following 
are samples of series of words used: (1) Cup, fraction, 
money; (2) Bell, ground, owner; (3) See, find, throw; 
(4) Remember, put, depart. 

A simple method for scoring consists in allowing two 
points for every correct sentence and one point for every 
sentence which contains the specified words but which 
has minor defects. 

The following scores were made by two classes of col- 
lege juniors and seniors ^ : 

Median number of points made during the first two 
minutes: 

Series 1 19 boys 7.4 36 girls 6.6 

Series 3 10 boys 6.5 23 girls 7.0 

Series 4 8 boys 7.5 14 girls 8.0 

Median number of points made during the following 
two minutes: 

Series 1 19 boys 5.4 36 girls 4.9 

Series 3 10 boys 7.0 23 girls 6.0 

Series 4 8 boys 6.0 14 girls 4.0 

The lowest score was two points for each two-minute 
period ; the highest was twelve points for the first period 
and ten points for the second. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGINATIVE THINKING 127 

4. The making of similes or metaphors by combining 
any two of a given series of words. Miss Gordon ^ used 
the following words: Air, bell, Bible, bird, bread, carpet, 
child, city, coin, dog, eye, fire, fish, fruit, grass, home, 
judge, light, lion, man, mother, pen, pillow, servant, ship, 
star, tongue, tree, water. Half an hour was allowed for 
the work. 

5. The completion of mutilated sentences. The ma- 
terial consists of sentences or paragraphs from which a 
number of words have been omitted. The pupil is to 
insert the missing words, and the score consists of the 
time used and the correctness of the results. This method 
has been used by Trabue as a general school test. The 
following samples illustrate the Trabue tests: ^ 

Children . . . are rude . . . not easily win friends. 

In ... to maintain . . . health, one should have nourish- 
ing .. . 

. . . happiness cannot be . . . with money. 

Many people . . . their health because ... do not ... of 
hygiene. 

The . . . seems . . . and dreary ... a discouraged . . . 

6. The painted cube test. This may be given in two 
ways. (1) Imagine a three-inch cube made up of one- 
inch cubes. Suppose this cube to be painted red all 
around. How many of the small cubes would have no 
paint on them? How many would have paint on one 
side? Two sides? etc. (2) Take such a cube and dis- 
tribute small blocks on the table. Let the pupil see how 
quickly he can construct the big cube so that it will be 

* Gordon. — Educational Psychology, 147. 

^Trabue. — Completion Test Language Scales, Teachers College, 1916. 



128 TEACHING TO THINK 

red all around. This test, given in the first way to a 
group of 44 college juniors and seniors, brought the fol- 
lowing results: Minimum time 20 seconds, maximum time 
150 seconds, median time 100 seconds. The fast workers 
were shghtly the more accurate. The test may be made of 
any difiiculty desired by imagining a four, five, or six- 
inch cube; or by supposing it painted with different 
colors on different sides. 

7. The imaginary journey test. Examples: (1) If 
a cream driver went % mile west from his home, then 
1 mile south, then 1 mile east, then 2 miles north, then % 
mile west, in what direction and how far away would his 
home be? (2) A man in an airship flies west 10 miles 
and up 2 miles, then north 5 miles and down 1 mile, then 
east 15 miles, then south 5 miles. Where should he look 
for his starting place? These tests given to 49 college 
juniors and seniors brought the following results: 
(1) Minimum time 15 seconds, maximum 80 seconds, 
median 50 seconds, with as many errors by those who 
took more than the median time as by those who took 
less. (2) Minimum time 20 seconds, maximum 85 sec- 
onds, median 50 seconds. Errors were as frequent in 
answers of the slow workers as in those of the fast. 

8. The production of rhymes. For example, write 
as many words as you can in two minutes to rhyme with 
the word name. Other words may be used, such as sing, 
though, rough. 

By using these tests or others suggested by them, a 
teacher can easily discover the individual difference in 
his pupils with respect to their ability to do the imagina- 
tive thinking required for each task. He can also gain 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGINATIVE THINKING 129 

valuable insight into the processes of such thinking and 
become enabled to adjust his teaching so as to give the 
pupils more opportunity for its development. 

Professor Dearborn makes mention of a type of imagi- 
native thinking which seems to deserve more notice from 
teachers than it has received. He calls it organic imagi- 
nation, by which he means the influence of the mind over 
the body. As education should help people to be both 
well and happy, this looks like an important topic. We 
have paid very little attention to it in our schools. I 
have never seen, but I should very much like to see, a 
school exercise in which the main problem would be 
something like this: Can anyone suggest something for 
us to think about that will make us feel well and happy 
to-day? Or, on a cloudy day: Can anyone suggest some- 
thing for us to think about to make us feel cheerful 
to-day? 

THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. Resolved: That imaginative thinking should be forbidden 
in our schools and that the pupils should be taught always 
to stick to facts and the truth. You are the first speaker. 
What view do you take and what are your main arguments? 

2. Can you give any examples of statements which are 
literally true but not valuable? Can you cite other state- 
ments which are not literally true but which are very val- 
uable? 

3. What are the results when people become too matter- 
of-fact and think of things only as they have been or 
are? What are the results when people become too imagina- 
tive? 

4. There can be no imaginative thinking without sense 
material. There can be no gathering of sense material with- 



130 TEACHING TO THINK 

out imagination. Are both, only one, or none of these state- 
ments true? 

5. Says C. W. Eliot: 

^The fundamental trades — such as those of the carpenter, 
mason, blacksmith, wheelwright, painter, hand leatherworker, 
and shoemaker, have provided immensely valuable education 
for the human race, and have, indeed, been the chief means 
of raising barbarous peoples to a condition of approximate 
civilization." ^ Is it probably true that the educative influence 
of these trades was due to the opportunities which they af- 
forded the workers for imaginative or creative thinking? 

6. In the paper already quoted Eliot says that "the sec- 
ondary schools are giving not more than from one-tenth to 
one-sixth of their force to observational, sense-training sub- 
jects.'^ Do you think that more imaginative thinking is 
needed in the high schools? 

7. Make a list of the vocations into which the majority of 
your pupils are likely to enter. Indicate the relative im- 
portance of imaginative thinking, as compared with matter- 
of-fact thinking, required for becoming successful in each 
vocation. Are you maintaining the same proportions in your 
school work? 

8. Occasionally pupils become too imaginative. How can 
such a condition be remedied? 

9. Resolved: That it is worth more to learn twenty-five 
facts in connection with a worthy project than fifty isolated 
facts. What is your opinion? 

10. Suppose a teacher has made no use of the project 
method in his work. How could he make the adoption of the 
project method a project for himself? What suggestions 
would you give him? 

11. Resolved: That it is not the business of the schools to 
teach pupils to entertain themselves, but to teach them to 
work ; since children learn to play without being taught. Dis- 
cuss this statement. 

12. Says Eliot in the paper already mentioned: "As a rule, 
the young men admitted to American colleges can neither draw 

* Eliot. — Changes Needed in American Secondary Education, 4. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGINATIVE THINKING 131 

nor sing; and they possess no other skill of eye, ear, or hand.'' 
What does this statement suggest? 

13. Prepare a scheme for a cooperative project for classes 
in geography and history. For classes in general history and 
literature. 

14. Professor Judd ^ reports seeing a teacher who taught 
geometry without the use of any drawings, by requiring the 
students to keep the figure in mind after it had been drawn 
in the air by a movement of the hand. What advantages and 
disadvantages might such a method have? What suggestions 
does it give? 

15. New methods or devices for teaching are frequently made 
from old ones by very simple processes. The teacher calls the 
name of the pupil, then states the question or topic. Simply 
reverse the procedure, and behold, a much better method. 
Conduct a drill by asking a series of snappy review questions 
in quick succession. Reverse by requiring the children to ask 
the questions. Assign the new lesson at the beginning of the 
period, then take up the lesson for the day, and finally devote 
a few minutes to review of the previous lesson. Simply reverse 
and you have a procedure that is still better. 

16. Make a list of methods and devices for teaching. How 
were they produced? What other methods or devices can 
you make from them by reversing parts or all of each, by 
enlarging or diminishing some aspects of each, or by combining 
parts of various methods into one? 

17. How would it do to have a period occasionally in the 
school program to be known as ^^the scheming period"? 

18. Up-to-date housekeepers have card files for recipes. 
Have you ever thought of making a card file of school Droj- 
ects, methods, and devices. 

19. Devise a new way of conducting a class recitation. 

20. Invent a new type of school. Now do not say you 
can't do it. Think of some of the new types of schools that 
have been advertised. Think of how they were produced. 
Then apply similar methods to some other aspect of the ordi- 
nary school. Before you know it, you may be famous. 

^Judd. — Psychology of High School Subjects, 44. 



VIII 



THINKING AND THE SOLUTION OF EVERYDAY 

PROBLEMS 

Schools must ever be tested by their direct and prac- 
tical relationship to everyday life. TeacherS are in con- 
stant danger of becoming so absorbed in the questions of 
school management, methods, and courses of study that 
they will neglect to keep in vital touch with the condi- 
tions and problems of life outside the school from which 
all school subjects find their origin and by which all 
principles of management and methods will finally be 
justified or condemned. How can a teacher escape this 
danger? Not by secluding himself in his study. He must 
from time to time deliberately leave his books and go 
^^at large'' to observe the real troubles of his people. 
What is the nature of their everyday problems? Why do 
so many fail to overcome their difficulties? What can 
the school do to enable the( growing generation to live 
more richly and efficiently? 

There is not much need of saying anything about the 
general nature of problems. We have all sufficiently 
experienced what it feels like to meet them. Perhaps 
you have gone blithely on your way and then suddenly 
discovered that something was wrong; that you have 

132 



THE SOLUTION OF EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 133 

forgotten your handkerchief or your pocketbook, or that 
you have lost the address to which you were directed, or 
that you have entirely forgotten your errand. Perhaps 
you have rolled along in your car — if a school teacher's 
auto can be called a car — and have heard one of the tires 
explode into what seemed at the time an awful profanity 
as it broke in upon the blissful state of your mind and 
as you realized that you had not provided an extra tire. 
Perhaps you have awakened at night with the feeling that 
you have heard a peculiar sound. Perhaps you seemed 
to hear it again and became thoroughly alarmed but were 
unable to decide what to do. Yes, we all know what it is 
to meet a problem, to be perplexed. It means a situation 
in which doing the customary things will not avail. It 
means hesitation and excitement. It means calling for 
help and trying to do many things in the hope that one 
of them may solve the difficulty. It means a feeling of 
relief when the problem is adjusted. 

What are the difficulties most frequently jtnet in every- 
day life? 

First, and nearest to us all, are our pains. Think for 
a moment about childhood. There were stomach aches, 
toothaches, earaches, cinders in the eyes, blisters on the 
heels, sore throat, frozen fingertips, ears, and nose. There 
was hunger, and craving for fruits and candies when there 
was no money with which to buy. As we advance in life 
the pains and aches change somewhat in their nature. 
Our heartaches last longer. Our sorrows and disappoint- 
ments are more difficult to cure. Our worries cling more 
tenaciously. 

Then there are a large number of very real problems 



134 TEACHING TO THINK 

in connection with earning a living. Perhaps we have 
difficulty in finding a suitable job. Then, perhaps, we 
have difficulty in holding it and in so improving ourselves 
that we shall merit promotion. 

Our relations to other people create a host of problems. 
There are the fights and friendships of childhood, the 
scoldings and spankings at home and in school. Later 
come the perplexities of dress and etiquette. Then come 
problems of courtship, marriage, building a home, and 
living peaceably with one's neighbors. All these situa- 
tions bristle with real perplexities, some humorous, most 
of them serious. 

Another set of problems spring from the fact that we 
grow tired of our work, of ourselves, and of everybody 
and everything, and that we must have recreation in 
order to live. When people get weary and disgusted and 
do not know what to do in order to regain their good 
cheer, there is a perplexity that is a very real one both 
for them and for those about them. No less serious is the 
difficulty when they think of something to do which turns 
out to be the wrong thing. 

Not so insistent, but none the less important, are the 
questions in connection with citizenship. To cast one's 
ballot every other year seems an easy thing to do. How- 
ever, as soon as one begins to search for unbiased and 
reliable information concerning the issues or the candi- 
dates to be voted upon, one realizes that he faces a real 
perplexity. Then, too, there are times when issues of 
vital importance arise, and when the problems of rightly 
serving one's country Ic^m up as more important than 
anything else. 



THE SOLUTION OF EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 135 

Religion causes a number of problems. First of all, 
there is the question of the relationship between the 
individual and his God. While some apparently have no 
difficulty in this matter, others are very much perplexed. 
Then there is the task of being tolerant toward those 
who hold religious views and observe customs and cere- 
monies differing from one's own. History reveals abun- 
dantly how serious and far reaching have been the per- 
plexities connected with the religious life. 

What are the general characteristics of our problems 
and perplexities? Without attempting to make an ex- 
haustive list, the following enumeration may serve to 
indicate the characteristics which are the most promi- 
nent: 

1. Our problems depend for their insistence upon 
original satisfiers and annoyers. Thorndike^ gives the 
following samples of each of these: 

(a) "Original satisfiers or instinctive likes are: — To be with 
other human beings rather than alone. To be with familiar 
human beings rather than with strange ones. To move when 
refreshed. To rest when tired. To be ^not altogether unenclosed' 
when resting and at night." 

(b) "Original annoyers or instinctive aversions are: — ^Bitter 
substances in the mouth, Being checked in locomotion by an 
obstacle. Being hungry. Being looked at with scorn by other 
men, The sight and smell of ^excrementitious and putrid things, 
blood, pus, entrails.' " 

The general law concerning satisfiers and annoyers is 
stated as follows: ^When any original behavior-series 
. is started and operates successfully, its activities are sat- 
isfying and the situations whicii they produce are satis- 

* Thorndike. — Educational Psychology, Vol. I, 123-4. 



136 TEACHING TO THINK 

fying. . . . When any original behavior-series is start- 
ed, any failure of it to operate successfully is annoying.'' 

2. Problems affect persons variously on account of 
individual differences. Note how a given perplexity 
affects differently persons who are sensitive, phlegmatic, 
impulsive, contemplative and philosophical, or calculat- 
ing. A grade of C, when A is highest, perplexes and 
annoys one student, mildly satisfies another, rejoices a 
third. 

3. Problems affect persons differently according to 
their acquired habits. An automobile accident may be an 
entirely different problem for the policeman, lawyer, 
physician, auto repair man, business man, laborer, or 
member of the W. C. T. U. who happens to see it. 

4. Problems affect persons differently according to the 
previous knowledge of or preparedness for such situations. 
Shadows in the cemetery cause quite different reactions 
in one who has been ^^prepared'' for them by a series 
of hair raising ghost stories than they cause in one who 
has been ^'prepared'' by doing a great deal of night work 
and who has learned to distrust all ghost stories. 

5. Perplexities may be obscure or clear. The former 
type results in such questions as, What is it? What does 
it mean? What is the trouble? Perplexities of the other 
type arouse such questions as. What are the causes of 
this difficulty? What are the available means for rem- 
edying the situation? Which of the means available is 
the best one? 

6. Problems may be essentially individual or social; 
that is, they may affect us personally or they may affect 
the group to which we belong. 



THE SOLUTION OF EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 137 

7. Our minds may be especially open or sensitive to 
certain perplexities on account of the ^^spirit of the 
times''; that is, on account of the influence of our en- 
vironment. 

8. Reliance on authority opens the mind to certain 
problems and closes it to others. 

9. The adoption or favoring of certain beliefs, hypo- 
theses, or theories produces closed-mindedness toward 
propositions not in harmony with such beliefs or theories, 
and open-mindedness toward statements that seem to 
corroborate them. 

10. The insistence or weight of a problem subjectively 
may be wholly different from its importance objectively. 
Whether one should wear an extra handkerchief showing 
out of the coat breast pocket and just how it should look, 
what style of necktie to wear, whether the young man 
should walk on the inner or outer side of the sidewalk, 
whether he should carry the girl's parasol or not, how 
the spoon should be dipped into the soup, what particu- 
lar ceremonies should be observed when a candidate is 
initiated may loom up for the individual as matters on a 
par with the Decalogue. 

11. The probability of meeting perplexities increases 
with the growth and complexity of civilization. The 
truth of this statement becomes evident when we think 
of the problems which have arisen in the various fields 
of human endeavor. 

The invention of machinery and the consequent de- 
velopment of industrial life created a multitude of new 
conditions and difficulties which had to be met. Some 
of these had to do with the production and transportation 



138 TEACHING TO THINK 

of raw materials. Others had to do with the processes of 
manufacture, the organization of labor, the housing of 
labor, with wages, the development of efficiency, the 
maintenance of morale, and with methods of cooperation. 
Still others had to do with selling the finished product, 
with advertising, and with the development of salesman- 
ship, or with problems of tariff and world competition. 

In commercial life the development of large corpora- 
tions and trusts has created new problems not only for 
the producer and the consumer; but for the state, as well 
as for the federal government. 

Our social life generally has been transformed by the 
increasing density of the population, the growth of large 
cities, and the development of means of communication. 
The average citizen of to-day comes in daily contact with 
a large number of persons. He must meet and adapt 
himself to a hundred situations where the pioneer had 
only one. The result is a social strain to which many 
find it difficult to adjust themselves. 

The growth of morality depends on the one hand upon 
the intensification of loyalty to the principles of right 
conduct already established and on the other upon the 
development of new varieties of virtue. The discovery 
and definition of each new virtue means also the dis- 
covery and the definition of a corresponding vice. This 
again calls for new adjustment in our conduct, in our 
moral conventions, and in our laws and institutions. As 
the world grows better through the appearance of new 
virtues, so it grows correspondingly more perplexing 
through the discovery of corresponding vices. 

12. Progress in any field depends directly on the ap- 



THE SOLUTION OF EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 139 

pearance of perplexities, which become so insistent that 
''something must be done." Persons who are interested 
in progress welcome problems and perplexities as real 
opportunities. Persons interested in keeping everything 
as it is regard the appearance of problems and perplexities 
as a misfortune. 

13. Within the group, difficulties at first appear as an 
indefinite annoyance. Those individuals who are most 
sensitive to the annoyance and who can raise it to the 
level of consciousness, formulate it, and state it so that it 
enters the consciousness of the group, become the leaders. 

14. The creative or constructive efficiency of an indi- 
vidual varies directly as his ability to become conscious 
of and cope with real perplexities. 

15. The value of a school or of a subject as a training 
for constructive efficiency probably varies directly with 
the opportunity which it affords the student for coming 
in contact with, and for successfully attacking, problems 
similar to or identical with those which are most impor- 
tant in actual life. 

A study of language is rather suggestive in revealing 
the characteristics of our most common problems. The 
period is a sign that we are perplexed by having things 
go on without a break or any let-up. The question mark 
is a symbol of a host of what's, when's, why's, how's, and 
Where's. The exclamation point tells of our emotional 
perplexities for which no mere analysis or declaration 
would suffice, but which call for love or hate or celebra- 
tion. Figures of speech are witnesses to our constant 
seeking to be understood. Common nouns and abstract 
terms tell of the struggle against being overcome by a 



140 TEACHING TO THINK 

multitude of specific things. Scientific terms bear evi- 
dence of difficulties in which men attempted to establish 
system and order in situations that were too chaotic to be 
endured. 

If we seek to discover the causes of our perplexities, we 
shall find the following to be some of the most important: 

1. Obscurity of the sensations; that is, we fail to see, 
hear, smell, taste, or sense clearly the objects before us. 
This may be due to the condition of the stimulus, as 
when one tries to recognize an object through a thick 
fog, or at too great a distance, or when one tries to iden- 
tify a specific flavor in a food which contains many flavors 
well blended. It may also be due to a defect of the sense 
organ, such as color blindness, nearsightedness, ob- 
structed nasal passages. Or it may be due to emotional 
excitement or nervous conditions of various sorts. 

2. Difficulties in recognition or comprehension, due to 
lack of information about the thing observed; as, for 
example, when one is to meet a total stranger in a crowd 
and has no mark for recognition, or when one discovers a 
substance or thing differing from anything seen before. 
In the majority of cases the difficulty is due to the fact 
that we discover at once both similarities and dissimilari- 
ties between the new object and things previously seen, 
and that as a result we are unable to classify the expe- 
rience as "either this or that." 

3. A number of difficulties spring from the lack of 
suitable words or expressions with which to describe an 
experience. These difficulties may be purely individual 
and represent a person's ignorance of terms used by those 
who are well informed, or they may be due to the fact 



THE SOLUTION OF EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 141 

that there are no words available in the language which 
one speaks. Figure 4 illustrates three degrees of language 
difl&culty. The problem consists in describing the loca- 
tion of points A, B, and C with respect to the adjoining 
lines or points. A person not familiar with geometry 
may experience some difficulty in describing the position 
of point A. However, if he can think in terms of an 
isosceles triangle having DE for its base and point A 
for its vertex, or if he can think of a perpendicular erected 
at the middle point of line DE, he will have no difficulty 
in describing the situation. Geometry gives no help for 
locating point B, but if the observer has noticed the form 
of the constellation, the Dipper, he will have no trouble 
in describing the situation. To describe the location of 
point C with respect to line FG presents a real difficulty, 
because no terms seem to be available. In such a situa- 
tion, one must forsake the language of words and resort 
to drawing or showing pictures. 

• B ^ j 



• • 



• 



^^ 



Fig. 4. 



6f 



Examples of thought difficulties due to language are 
very common in daily life. Names of many colors, smells, 
sensations of touch, and organic sensations are vague or 
altogether lacking in the vocabulary of the ordinary 
person. Terms descriptive of traits of character are 
indefinite and open to many interpretations. Many 
words have become so general in their meaning that they 



142 



TEACHING TO THINK 



may signify almost anything. Some words have sixty 
or more shades of meaning. 

Professor Kramar ^ holds that the ability to perceive 
likenesses and to use similes and metaphors is the chief 
requisite for overcoming language difl&culties. 

4. Closely connected with the language factors in a 
problem are the difficulties frequently experienced in the 
attempts to make an analysis or, in other words, to sepa- 
rate a large problem into smaller problems. Figure 5, 
adapted from Kramar, illustrates two degrees of these 
difficulties. There is but little trouble in separating 
diagram A into a spiral, an inverted d, and a capital R. 
Diagram B seems impossible of analysis. 





Fig. 5. 



Professor Muensterberg ^ held that ^^Every thought is 
psychologically a prolonged attention process,^^ by which 
we attempt to get more of the situation. Now since it is 
impossible to attend for any length of time to a situation 
that does not change or lend itself to analysis so that we 

* Kramar. — Neue Grundlagen zur Psychologie des Denkens (1914). 
^Muensterberg. — Psychology, General and Applied, 192. 



THE SOLUTION OF EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 143 

can focus upon different and definite aspects of it in turn; 
it becomes easy to understand why pupils tire so quickly 
of problems which they do not grasp, and why all of us 
"give it up'' so easily when we meet a difficulty which will 
not "fall apart/' 

A common illustration of this aspect of our difficulties 
may be noticed when one listens to a conversation in an 
unfamiliar language. The sounds run together so that 
it is impossible to distinguish words or phrases, and the 
usual request made is, "Please speak more slowly." 
When this is done, the confusing stream of sounds begins 
to break up into parts or periods which can be recognized. 

5. Another reason why we experience difficulties in 
solving our problems is found in the lack of skill in dis- 
covering, clearly stating, and retaining in mind a specific 
objective to be attained in a given situation. If we bear 
in mind that thinking is a form of behavior, an inner 
reaction, toward an object or group of objects, it becomes 
clear that to be effective it must have a specific aim or 
direction. The selection of an aim creates an attitude 
favorable to accomplishment, because it furnishes a basis 
upon which the ideas that come to our mind or any in- 
formation that is gathered may be sifted. Muddled 
thinking is caused by our inability to eliminate that 
which is irrelevant and immaterial. 

Many of our arguments and quarrels would imme- 
diately cease, if each participant could be compelled to 
state definitely what he is trying to attain. Just imagine 
the result if the party of the first part should state hon- 
estly that he is really trying to prove his point because he 
has held a certain view for a long time and hates to go to 



144 TEACHING TO THINK 

the trouble of revising it, or that he feels that his position 
demands that he shall not let a subordinate be victorious 
in the debate, or that he wishes to win the debate for the 
glory of his team and his school, or that he wants to win 
the case in order to strengthen his reputation as a lawyer. 
Or suppose the party of the second part should state 
honestly and frankly that he wishes to prove his point in 
order to show the party of the first part that said party 
cannot always have his own way, or because he personally 
dislikes people who hold the opposite view, or because he 
is trying to build up a new party or organization, or be- 
cause he loves to argue. Suppose on the other hand that 
all those who are concerned about discovering a remedy 
for a certain difficulty could first agree to put away all 
unworthy aims, center their attention upon an objective 
needed for the common good, and then like a united army 
make their attack; might we not expect to overcome the 
perplexities of life more effectively than we are, when our 
thinking is controlled by all sorts of unworthy aims? 

6. Many of the troubles which we experience in trying 
to solve our everyday problems are due to lack of reliable 
and accurate information. The best illustration of this 
may be found in the trial of a case before a court. Wit- 
nesses promise on oath that they will tell the truth and 
nothing but the truth, and yet the testimony may prove 
to be very contradictory. Inaccurate observation, unre- 
liable memory and recall, incorrect use of words — all in- 
creased by the unconscious bias of the witness and the 
suggestions of the lawyers — unite to make the story of 
the simplest event a puzzle to the jury. In order to deal 
with this difficulty courts require that testimony shall be 



THE SOLUTION OF EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 145 

competent, relevant, and material; that is, that the wit- 
ness must have had the opportunity, the ability, and the 
disposition to know and state the facts, the testimony 
must have a bearing upon the case at issue, and finally 
that it must have weight or make a difference. It would 
save us from much unprofitable thinking in connection 
with our daily problems, if we could have an opposing 
lawyer always ready to challenge our ideas as ^'incompe- 
tent, irrelevant, and wholly immaterial." 

7. Another, and perhaps the most serious, cause of 
our diflSculties in solving the problems which meet us 
in the affairs of daily life is lack of imagination a.nd 
inventiveness. Given a certain perplexity, a vision of 
what we want to accomplish, and sufficient information, 
the difficulty will not be overcome unless we actually use 
the information available; that is, make it work toward 
the end to be attained. One must begin by formulating 
tentative solutions about which the facts at hand may be 
grouped and for the verification or disproval of which 
new information may be sought. Perhaps the most com- 
mon criticism of school people is that they know a great 
deal but have very little ability or skill in using what 
they know. Nothing else reveals fertility or pliability of 
mind so well as readiness and skill in forming hypotheses 
or tentative explanations and a willingness to modify 
them as the conditions seem to require. In describing 
the methods of Darwin, Cramer ^ says that Darwin made 
a hypothesis as soon as possible and then modified it or 
replaced it by a different one as the case seemed to 
require. 

^Cramer. — The Method of Darwin, 



146 TEACHING TO THINK 

Hypotheses may roughly be classed in different groups 
representing stages in development of thinking. In the 
primitive type of hypothesis, facts are arranged according 
to a sequence of time so that they may be regarded as an 
orderly series of first, second, third; and many people 
are quite satisfied when they can establish order to that 
extent among the things which they know. 

According to another, and somewhat more advanced 
type, facts are explained by showing their relation to a 
larger whole. A piece of machinery is satisfactorily dis- 
posed of by discovering the kind of machine to which it 
belongs. Facts are grouped under "laws'' or principles. 
To persons in this stage of thinking anything is satis- 
factorily explained when they feel assured that it is a 
part of something else. If any of their relatives are sick, 
they are alarmed until the sickness has been named or 
classified, when they promptly feel composed. Has some- 
body committed a foolish or criminal act? Get it classi- 
fied as a case of youthful foolishness, original sin, general 
depravity, pride, selfishness, or some other large group of 
behavior, and the case has been satisfactorily disposed of. 
This type of explanation has been and is very useful in 
securing an orderly classification of things, and in pro- 
ducing system where before was chaos. 

The most recent and best type of hypothesis attempts 
to relate facts as causes and effects. This is the method 
which has proven most fruitful in the natural sciences. 
The reason for its effectiveness is that it reveals the means 
of controlling events. When the causes of a certain event 
have been discovered, that event may be produced, 
changed, or suppressed by controlling the causes which 



.J.U ^vl<* 



THE SOLUTION OF EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 147 

produce it. When the effects of a given situation are 
known, it becomes possible to predict with certainty what 
is going to happen. The scientist who arranges his ap- 
paratus for an experiment can tell exagtly what will take 
place. The enormous progress of chemistry and medi-;;^"^^ 
cine during recent years has been due to the discovery of X^ jj — 
definite relationships of cause and effect. The inventions _ 

of machinery are due to the same mode of thinking. The 
development of the social sciences, psychology, and the 
science of education are products of this type of think- 
ing. The most serious limitation of the thinking which 
seeks merely to classify facts is that it gives no real 
control over them. While it may produce a certain satis- 
faction to know that nothing in this world is detached, 
but that everything is a part of everything else, such 
knowledge gives no real control over the situations of 
life in the sense of ability to alter them. 

The men and women who are the most efficient are ; 
the ones who are wise concerning the causes and effects 1/ 
of things. Those of us who are deficient in this kind of 
insight stand as spectators and wonder how anyone could 
know beforehand that things would turn out as they do, 
or how others can make things happen as they want them 
to happen. Then, what do we do? We try to classify 
such people as "lucky,'^ ''shrewd," "long-headed''; and 
having made our classification, we are satisfied. Thus we 
demonstrate our lack of ability to be anything more than 
spectators. 

8. Lack of critical ability is a cause of failure to solve 
effectively some of our difficulties. We jump at conclu- 
sions. By accepting that which seems good we fail to 



148 TEACHING TO THINK 

reach the better or the best. In its more primitive form 
this means accepting anything which catches the atten- 
'tion. Most persons are somewhat attracted by that which 
seems marvelous. Indeed, in some cases it seems as if the 
more mysterious and wonderful a story is, the more readily 
is it accepted. Again, we accept readily that which we 
would like to believe and reject without sufficient reason 
that which we dislike. We accept without evidence 
those statements which have been frequently repeated 
and which have become habitual thoughts. 

In order to realize the necessity for cultivating a criti- 
cal attitude in our thinking, we need but consider the 
large number of ideas which clamor for acceptance by the 
average person of to-day compared with five hundred 
years ago. They come through books, papers, maga- 
zines, and pamphlets; over telegraph and telephone, from 
graphophones, and by means of lecture courses. Then 
there is the almost limitless range of social contact 
brought about by the automobile and other modes of 
travel, as well as by mail. It is safe to say that for every 
idea that claimed acceptance by a person five hundred 
years ago there are hundreds of ideas that claim accept- 
ance now. The world has become so full of ideas and 
facts that it is utterly impossible for the individual to 
use them all. 

This does not imply that the ideas which come to us 
are less reliable or important than those which were 
available in the past. On the whole they are probably 
much more reliable and also more important. At times 
we regard newspaper articles as being more or less un- 
reliable; but compared with mere rumor — and before 



THE SOLUTION OF EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 149 

there were any newspapers people had to be satisfied 
mainly with rumor — they are like Gibraltars of reliability. 

While the critical attitude of mind is necessary in order 
to distinguish truth from error, it is even more necessary 
in order to distinguish that which is relevant and material 
from that which is irrelevant and immaterial. Efficient 
thinking to-day implies that there are many opinions, but 
that few are chosen. 

9. ^^ck of efficient cooperation is the cause of many^ 
of the failures in dealing with the problems of daily life, t^:*-^^ ^ 
It is true that in some occupations cooperation has devel- iC>^^^^*^ 
oped to a considerable extent; however, much yet re- 
mains to be done. In some activities cooperation is prac- 
tically unknown. In others it is in the stage of '^trial 
and error'' and has not reached any satisfactory degree 
of efficiency. In a few it has taken undesirable forms 
and become the tool of greed and class strife. It is a safe 
prediction that cooperation will be developed during the yjx M 
next fifty years to an extent that we cannot now conceive. /Q^ . 
If this development is to be wholesome, one that will 
redound to the welfare of our people, it must be intelli- 
gently directed. This means that every teacher has a 
call to make a study of the nature and conditions of 
helpful cooperation in order that he may promote it in 
his school. 

Suppose now that a schoolmaster who has been "at 
large'' and has looked upon the troubles of his fellow 
men returns; what may we expect him to do about it 
when he enters his schoolroom? First of all, and perhaps 
most important of all, it seems to me that we should ex- 
pect him to leave the door of his schoolroom open when 



150 TEACHING TO THINK 

he enters. In other words, he should insist upon a con- 
stant free and vital reaction between his own work and 
the activities of real life. He is ever to remember that he 
is to be a real man among men and that he is to live a 
full normal life, deep in its insight and rich in its appre- 
ciation of, and sympathy for, the struggles, successes, and 
failures of his fellow men. 

We shall expect him always to insist on putting "first 
things first" ; not on the basis of their age in the curricu- 
lum or their rank in the traditions of school literature, 
nor on the basis of his own fondness for them or their 
advertising value for the school, but solely according to 
^ their life value for his pupils. This means that he is 
willing to discard all those facts, methods, and devices 
which have outlived their usefulness, no matter how im- 
portant they may have been in the past. He meets 
everything that seeks a place in his program with the 
question: "Will it make any difference to my pupils in 
their struggles with the perplexities of life?'' 

It will be his constant aim to give the pupils insight 
into the problems of real life, understanding and appre- 
ciation of values, wisdom in choosing the good. He will 
welcome problems and difficulties as opportunities and 
will teach his pupils to meet them gladly in place of avoid- 
ing them. In his school no one will be chided for having 
made honest attempts that were unsuccessful. Failure to 
"try again'' is the only cause for censure that is recognized. 

He will seek for clearness in all his thinking and insist 
upon it in the work of his pupils, for clearness in sense im- 
pressions, for definiteness in interpretation, and for accu- 
racy in the use of language. He will develop the con- 



THE SOLUTION OF EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 151 

scious attitude which always seeks to analyze a situation 
into comprehensible elements and insists on basing an ar- 
gument on that which is definitely known and understood. 

He will foster enthusiasm for accurate and reliable in- 
formation about those things which are worth while. He ^ 
will show very little respect for information obtained o\^i 
merely for its own sake or for the sake of passing exami-/i^^^ 
nations. He will constantly aim to give his pupils points i^lu^ 
of contact with the best sources of information about the \ 
most important things in life. He has seen how many 
fail because they seek information where none is found. 
He knows that life is too short to spend any part of it 
in pursuit of information which does not give insight. 

He will seek to develop ability in himself and in his 
pupils to make plans and to project hypotheses. Espe- 
cially will he cultivate a practical creative imagination 
which can grasp relationships of cause and effect and 
lead to definite control of those factors which cause our 
perplexities. He will show scant respect for ''explana- 
tions'' or for theories or speculations which ''make no 
difference" in the struggles of life. 

He will exercise and foster in his pupils a wholesome 
critical attitude toward everything that seeks admission to 
the mind. He values the short span of school life too 
highly to spend any of it in consideration of propositions 
which can neither be proven nor disproven. He regards the 
ability to select with discrimination and to choose wisely 
as the highest aim of scholarship, and he does not esteem 
very highly the ability to recall and repeat on request a 
miscellaneous collection of propositions without the exer- 
cise of any judgment as to their relative importance. 



152 TEACHING TO THINK 

We may expect this schoolmaster to become an en- 
thusiastic promoter and supporter of cooperation. He 
will develop it in his pupils by their actual use of it in the 
various activities of his school. He will regard good will 
as being more than sentiment; it is to be a fine art to 
be perfected by careful practice. 

Are we expecting too much of this schoolmaster? By 
no means. It is true that it would be easier for him to 
teach as he has been taught and to follow the customs 
and conventions of ordinary schools. But he is not to 
take the easy path. He is to take the upper trail. He 
is to establish customs and conventions rather than to 
follow those established by others. He is to be a prophet, 
a man of vision, a leader. That is the reason why he 
must constantly, like the famous leader of old, not only 
look upon, but actually share in, the troubles of his 
people. 

THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. Compare the problems or perplexities of the following: — 
(1) Children and adults. (2) Men and women. (3) Those 
who live in town and those who live in the country. (4) The 
poor and the rich. (5) The educated and the uneducated. 
(6) Civilized peoples and those which are uncivilized. (7) 
Early settlers with people of to-day. 

Make the comparisons by asking yourself questions like 
these: (1) What seems to be the general nature of the prob- 
lems of each group? (2) How do the perplexities compare 
with respect to their apparent importance to the individual? 
(3) What influence are the perplexities likely to exert over 
the lives of the individuals? (4) What are the most common 
causes of the troubles? (5) How does each group try to evade 
or meet its troubles? 



THE SOLUTION OF EVERYDAY PROBLEMS 153 

2. How do you explain that a well-to-do person may worry 
about his future financially while a poor man may be without 
such worries? 

3. Does education tend to diminish the number of one's 
problems or lessen their perplexity? 

4. Make a list of the most insistent problems with which 
you have had to contend. Is it true that each one of them 
would have been a real opportunity if it had been properly 
met? 

5. What is the cause of the perplexity which one experi- 
ences in trying to select a suit or piece of wearing apparel by 
lamplight? 

6. Why is a person who merely visits a room better qualified 
to deal with the problem of its ventilation than one who stays 
in the room? Would it be a good rule, whenever a person is in 
trouble and does not know what to do, to leave it for a while 
in order to come back to it from the outside, as it were? 

7. Make a list of the perplexities of your daily work. 
How have you tried to meet them? Might some of them be 
solved by your going for a stroll in the woods, or resting a bit, 
or going to a good friend for a chat? If some troubles can be 
overcome by such pleasant means, why not make use of these 
means? 

8. When anyone grows nervous or irritable, would it be 
sensible for him to get up and walk around the house once 
or twice? Or to sing or hum or whistle a good tune? Or to 
take some calisthenic exercises? 

9. Think of examples to show how troubles have been 
remedied by discovering and removing their causes. Think 
of other examples to show how people have vainly tried to 
meet their difficulties by attempting to remove the effects 
rather than the cause. 

10. How can a teacher help his pupils to look upon prob- 
lems and difficulties as opportunities? 

11. What are the problems about which your pupils seem 
to be most concerned? Are all problems equally rich in op- 
portunity? How can pupils be led to select the most promis- 
ing ones? 

12. Which would you prefer, to have a student leave school 



154 TEACHING TO THINK 

with an interest in many vital problems and questions to be 
settled or with the attitude of having settled them and know- 
ing it all? Which attitude would you prefer in a teacher? In 
a superintendent? In a neighbor? In a preacher? 



IX 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN PROBLEM- 
SOLVING 

In the previous chapter we discussed the nature and 
causes of the perplexities of everyday life. That dis- 
cussion yielded a number of general suggestions applica- 
ble in teaching. The task now before us must be to in- 
quire somewhat more in detail into the nature of the 
problem-solving process in order to arrive at more spe- 
cific information in regard to the ways and means by 
which our pupils can acquire efficiency in this type of 
thinking. 

Let us first attempt to gain some direct insight into 
the psychological aspects of problem-solving. This means 
that we must proceed to get some immediate experience 
concerning the matter in question. In other words, the 
best method for beginning the study of problem-solving 
is actually to solve some problems and to observe how 
it is done. We shall then be in position profitably to 
compare our own experiences with those of others who 
have made investigations in the same field. 

For the exercises to be worked I have selected a number 
of puzzles. They have been chosen for the following 
reasons: They have a sufficient ''holding-power/' so that 
it requires no effort to "keep on trying" even if the solu- 

155 



156 



TEACHING TO THINK 



tion may be difficult to get. They are sufficiently con- 
crete, most of them being drawing puzzles, to make it 
easy for the worker and the observers to make a record 
of the various attempts and steps by which the solution 
is obtained. In this respect these puzzles have a distinct 
advantage over mechanical puzzles of the sort which 
some investigators have used. 

First exercise : Take pencil and paper and try to draw 





D 




Fig. 6 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN PROBLEM -SOLVING 157 

each of the diagrams shown in Figure 6 with one con- 
tinuous stroke of the pencil and without retracing any 
of the lines. Number each attempt so that you can go 
back and trace your progress toward the solution. 

At this point I am much tempted to describe what I 
think happened while you tried to trace the figures, but 
to do that would be poor pedagogy. Rather let me ask 
some questions to which the exercise may have furnished 
answers of one kind or another. 

(1) What was your feeling toward the puzzles when 
your first saw what they were and knew what was to be 
done? 

(2) Did you at once begin to draw, or did you hesitate 
and try to figure out how the puzzle could be solved? 

(3) If your first attempt proved a failure, what did 
you do next? In what respect was the second attempt 
different from the first? Did you profit by the first mis- 
take or was the second attempt as poor as the first? 

(4) If you "almost made it,'^ how did you change the 
next attempt so as to succeed? 

(5) Did the solution of one puzzle aid you in solving 
any of the others? If so, how? 

(6) Did previous experience with some of the puzzles 
aid or hinder your work? 

(7) On the basis of your experience, what rules or 
suggestions, if any, would you give for the solving of 
puzzles of this type? 

(8) Which of these rules or suggestions do you con- 
sider the most important? 

Second exercise: Try to pierce each one of the nine 
stars shown in Figure 7 by drawing four, and only four, 



158 TEACHING TO THINK 

straight connecting lines. If you do not succeed in a 
reasonable amount of time, read the suggestion at the 
end of the chapter. Is the making of this suggestion 
typical of what a teacher should do when a pupil feels 
like quitting his work on a problem? 



• • « 

Fig. 7. 

Third exercise: Take six matches. Place three of 
them on the table in such a way as to make an equilateral 
triangle as shown in Figure 8. Now arrange the other 
matches in such a way as to make four equilateral tri- 
angles in all, each one equal in size to the first one. If 
you do not accomplish this in a reasonable time, read the 
suggestion at the end of the chapter and note the result. 
What does this exercise illustrate concerning the instruc- 
tions to be given to pupils in connection with certain types 
of problems? 




Fig. 8. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN PROBLEM-SOLVING 159 

Fourth exercise : Take five squares of paper of equal 
size, say four inches. Cut each square from the middle 
of one side to the opposite corner as shown in Figure 9. 
Now try to arrange the ten pieces thus produced on the 
table in such a manner as to produce one coinplete square 
having no gaps in it. Read the suggestion at the encj of 
the chapter, if you feel like ^'giving it up.'^ 




Fig. 9. 



Fifth exercise: Try the railway puzzle shown in 
Figure 10. The drawing represents the Y-track of a rail- 
way. A-B is the main line. The spur at C is just long 
enough to hold one car and the locomotive. There are 
cars at points 1, 2, and 3. The locomotive is at point B, 
headed east. Turn the locomotive around so that it will 
be headed west. When it pulls out at A the three cars 
must each be in the positions first occupied. No flying 
switches are to be made. 

Sixth exercise : Change one word into another word 
of the same number of letters by changing one letter at 
a time, always making English words. Example: Black, 
blank, blink, clink, chink, think, thine, whine, white. 
Change the word cold into the word warm. Change 



160 TEACHING TO THINK 

brown to green. That solution is best which is accom- 
plished in the least amount of time and with the fewest 
intervening steps. 

The solving of puzzles is so interesting that we might 
be tempted to introduce other exercises of the types 




already presented or of other types and to forget our 
original purpose, which was to gain insight into the 
thought processes involved. Now, insight is gained not 
by multiplying experiences indefinitely but only by 
thinking about them. A person might continue to solve 
puzzle after puzzle, as pupils sometimes work problem 
after problem in mathematics, without gaining any clear 
understanding of the real nature of the work or of the 
methods and conditions by which it can be accomplished 
more efficiently. In place of trying to solve other puz- 
zles it will be wiser for uS; now to stop and think about 
the experiences so far obtained. The following questions 
are presented for the purpose of facilitating our thinking: 
(1) Review the questions following the first exercise. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN PROBLEM-SOLVING 161 

Which of the conclusions then formulated have been con- 
firmed? What amendments can you suggest to the tenta- 
tive statements then made? 

(2) Was the method of ^'trial and error" equally- 
prominent in your working of each of the puzzles? If 
not, what explanation can you find for the difference? 

(3) Was there any difference in the relative amount of 
"inner'' and "outer'' behavior; that is, of effort to solve 
the puzzles by sitting still and thinking or by using pen- 
cil and paper or other manipulation? Do we solve puz- 
zles by the use of our brains only or do we "work" them, 
at least partly, by our hands? 

(4) As you tried each succeeding puzzle, what use, if 
any, did you make of any previous experience with 
puzzles? 

(5) Did you find any similarities between the puzzles? 
If so, did it help or hinder you in your work? 

(6) Which of the puzzles, if any, would you group to- 
gether so that the same method of attack could be used 
for each of them? 

(7) How was your work affected by the different atti- 
tudes which you took ; such as, "Now I am going to suc- 
ceed this time," "Pshaw, I don't think I can get it," or 
"What's the use? This isn't worth doing at all." 

(8) How was your work affected by having someone 
watch your progress? 

(9) How was it affected by trying to hurry, especially 
if you were competing with someone else to see who could 
first get the solution? 

(10) Did you notice any transfer of training in your 
work with the different puzzles? Did any of your experi- 



162 TEACHING TO THINK 

ence carry over from one diagram to the other in the first 
exercise? From the first exercise to the second? If so, 
did it help you or hinder you? Would it be right to say 
that there was a ^^negative transfer'' from plane geome- 
try and a "positive transfer" from solid geometry in the 
case of the third exercise? Did your more intimate 
knowledge of plane geometry prevent the less intimate 
knowledge of solid geometry from functioning? Was 
there any transfer from square root in arithmetic in the 
fourth exercise? Did your experience with the other 
puzzles give you any help in the fifth exercise? In the 
sixth? Formulate a statement to cover your experiences 
with the different puzzles which expresses your opinion as 
to transfer in regard to whether it is general or specific, 
whether it may be positive or negative, whether it de- 
pends on identical characteristics in the experiences met, 
and whether such transfer is dependent on suggestions, 
for its ability to function. 

We have now had some direct experience in trying to 
solve puzzles of various types. We have also tried to 
gain some insight into the thought processes involved 
by recalling these experiences and thinking about them. 
It will therefore be in order to compare our own expe- 
riences and opinions with those of others who have 
worked with the same general problem in which we are 
interested. 

The most suggestive experimental investigation bear- 
ing on the nature of problem-solving is Ruger's study of 
the solution of mechanical puzzles. The materials used 
in this investigation consisted of thirty-seven puzzles, 
nearly all common wire puzzles, in which the problem was 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN PROBLEM-SOLVING 163 

to take them apart. There were twenty-seven subjects 
in all; four boys, one mechanician, seven students of 
psychology, two instructors, and thirteen graduate stu- 
dents. The main conclusions are based upon the ob- 
servations which the experimenter made while the sub- 
jects singly attempted to solve the puzzles, and upon the 
introspections of the subjects. The following is a brief 
summary of the results obtained by Ruger: 

1. Two main types of learning were noticed. One involved 
the making of a large nimiber of more or less random attempts 
and movements. "Acts which made no change in the situation 
whatever were at times repeated indefinitely and without 
modification. In successive trials of a series, after an essential 
step toward a solution had been performed correctly, it was 
reversed and done over several times with irrelevant move- 
ments interspersed before the subject passed out to the next 
step. ... In practically all of the cases random manipulation 
played some part and, in many cases, a very considerable 
part in the gaining of success." ^ The other type involves the 
"analysis" or understanding of the task to be performed. This 
understanding varied greatly in its explicitness. It might be 
merely a vague feeling of familiarity with a recurring attempt. 
It might mean the explicit recognition of it. Again, it might 
mean the ability partly to image an attempt or to image it 
completely. It might mean the ability to describe verbally 
or even to reduce one's experience to a general formula to be 
used under varying conditions. The "analysis" varied greatly 
in extent. It might be only partial, consisting in picking out 
the point of attack. It might be schematic, involving some 
insight into the main line of attack and the general plan of so- 
lution. Again, it might be total, covering all the steps to be 
taken. In some cases the random movements came first, in 
others the movements and the "analysis" were simultaneous, 
while in some the "analysis" came first. As to its material the 

^ Ruger.— 'The Psychology of Efficiency"; Archives of Psychology, 
No. 15, 1910. 



164 TEACHING TO THINK 

^'analysis" might be perceptual or ideational. It seemed rela- 
tively independent of imagery. 

2. The following were the principal "conditions of effi- 
ciency": (1) "Success in getting the most appropriate methods 
of technique." (2) Consciousness of the variations. Improve- 
ment was "coincident with consciously adopted variations 
rather than with ^unconscious' ones." (3) The main conditions 
favoring improvement were (a) Physical well-being and high 
level of attention, (b) An objective or problem attitude as 
opposed to one of self-attention or attention to others. In the 
case of self- attention the subject is thinking of what showing 

i/' he is making rather than of the task to be performed; in the 
other type he is watching the person or persons who are sup- 
posed to know the answer to the puzzle or problem, (c) 
Suitable assumptions or hypotheses which were not allowed 
to become fixed but were consciously modified or changed 
when found to be unprofitable. 

3. The conclusions regarding transfer of training are: (1) 
That there is no transfer of specialized skill unless it is 
generalized; that is, unless the subject is able to formulate 
his learning into a general principle or rule. Whenever the 
procedure followed in a successful solution could be general- 
ized it could and would be used in solving other puzzles. (2) 
"The mere presence of imagery, although vivid and of closely 
related puzzles, was no guaranty of its efficiency." (3) Method 
or attitude was carried over from one puzzle to another so 
directly as to seem "almost reflexly accomplished." "A change 
in the subject's idea of himself, from that of one incapable 
of solving such a problem to one capable of doing so, probably 
played a part in the change of mood. A similar but less 
decided change of mood was at times accomplished, in the 
absence of success, by the suggestion that the subject was 
doing as well as others. An attitude of self-confidence was 
at times self -induced through an idea of its value, and subjects 
were able by this means to avoid a state of confusion when 
in difficulty, to which state they had , previously fallen vic- 
tims." (4) As to transfer of ideals of method, "efficiency as a 
goal to be reached, the ideals of scientific method, and the 
ideal of an optimum personal attitude were among the most 
important." 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN PROBLEM-SOLVING 165 

4. There was a tendency to depend on memories of former 
solutions in place of a direct study of the puzzle at hand. 
Occasionally this would become a positive hindrance to a suc- 
cessful analysis of the puzzle. The best work was done by 
using memories of previous work as mere suggestions to be 
rejected, adapted, or accepted according to the needs of the 
moment. 

5. Plateaus, or stages in which no progress was made, ap- 
peared when there was a shifting back and forth between 
rival methods more or less consistently used. 

An excellent discussion of problem-solving, as based 
on the facts of general experience and on the psychology 
of learning is given by Parker.^ He summarizes his dis- 
cussion in the following practical suggestions: — 

"To stimulate and assist pupils in carrying on reflective 
thinking the teacher should 

"1, Get them to define the problem at issue and keep it 
clearly in mind. 

"2. Get them to recall as many related ideas as possible by 
encouraging them (1) To analyze the situation and (2) To 
formulate definite hypotheses and to recall general rules or 
principles that may apply. 

"3. Get them to evaluate carefully each suggestion by en- 
couraging them (1) To maintain an attitude of unbiased, 
suspended judgment or conclusion, (2) To criticize each sug- 
gestion. (3) To be systematic in selecting and rejecting 
suggestions, and (4) To verify conclusions. 

'^4. Get them to organize their material so as to aid in the 
process of thinking by encouraging them (1) To ^take stock^ 
from time to time, (2) To use methods of tabulation and 
graphic expression, and (3) To express concisely the tentative 
conclusions reached from time to time during the inquiry.^' 

It seems necessary at this time to devote a few mo- 
ments to certain questions in regard to problem-solving, 

* Parker. — Methods of Teaching in High Schools, Ch. IX; 1915. 



166 TEACHING TO THINK 

about which there has been a great deal of discussion and 
concerning which there have been pronounced differences 
of opinion and more or less confusion. 

One of these questions has to do with the inductive 
and deductive methods of reasoning. Many writers — 
and this is particularly true of those who have been in- 
fluenced by the study of formal logic — ^have insisted that 
there are two distinct and practically opposite types of 
thinking. One is supposed to consist in attacking a 
problem by first making a study of individual facts. The 
other is supposed to consist in making the attack by 
seeking for some generally accepted law or principle. 
Each method has had its enthusiastic supporters among 
teachers as well as among educational writers. Some 
school subjects have been thought to be essentially in- 
ductive, others deductive. Some teachers have acquired 
considerable skill in teaching this or that subject by the 
inductive method, while others have claimed equal suc- 
cess in teaching the same subjects by the deductive 
method. 

Of late, attention has turned more toward the points of 
similarity and less toward the points of difference be- 
tween the two methods. This tendency is clearly shown 
in the following statement of a general formula to cover 
both deductive and inductive thinking: 

"When a new fact is presented, or any situation exists that 
is in any way novel, there is a tendency on the part of the 
human individual to treat this new fact, or react to this novel 
situation in terms of past experience, — which experience as- 
sumes the function of a general principle of procedure in all 
similar cases. On the other hand, when a principle of pro- 
cedure is presented, the human individual has a tendency to 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN PROBLEM-SOLVING 167 

envisage this general principle in terms of concrete examples. 
In other words, it is a tendency of the human mind to find 
the general in the particular and the particular in the gen- 
eral" ^ 

Let us attempt to make this general formula somewhat 
more specific and applicable to teaching. According to 
the Herbartians the complete inductive lesson should 
consist of the following steps: (1) Preparation^ with 
statement of the aim, (2) Presentation, (3) Comparison 
and abstraction, (4) Generalization, and (5) Applica- 
tion. The steps of the deductive lesson as given by 
Bagley^ are (1) Data, (2) Principles, (3) Inferences or 
conclusions, and (4) Verification. 

These two series can readily be combined into the fol- 
lowing, which will cover both the inductive and the de- 
ductive method: (1) Problem, an individual fact or a 
general principle to be explained by relating it to one's 
experience. (2) Recall of information bearing on the 
problem. If an isolated fact is to be explained, this wall 
take the form of recall of experiences with other similar 
facts or of a general principle embodying an extended 
experience with similar facts. If a general principle is 
to be explained, it will be done by recalling individual 
facts to illustrate it or by recalling other general prin- 
ciples of a wider scope. (3) Assimilation or apperception, 
by which the fact or principle in question takes its place 
as a part of our conscious experience so that we can live 
with it without feeling annoyed. This step may take a 
long time and may require adjustments, not only in the 

*Colvin. — Introduction to High School Teaching, 288. 
^Bagley. — The Educative Process, Ch. XX. 



168 TEACHING TO THINK 

fact or principle considered, but also in the views and 
beliefs previously held. (4) Application, by which the 
values of the new information are established through 
our becoming conscious of its practical utility in the 
general affairs of life, or through the satisfaction which 
comes with the clearing up of vagueness and obscurity 
or the removal of contradictions with which one has been 
annoyed. 

All new experiences are rationalized by reference to 
previous experiences, and these may be available either in 
the form of ideas about individual cases or of concepts 
embodying a number of cases. It is well to bear in mind 
also that there is no hard and fast distinction between a 
single fact and a general principle. One refers to a lim- 
ited experience, the other refers to a wider experience, 
but no one can tell where one ends and the other begins. 

As a matter of economy in thinking about any question, 
it is generally advisable to relate the problem at once 
to those concepts which represent the widest and longest 
experience in regard to similar problems, bearing in mind 
that even our widest generalizations are subject to 
amendment. 

Another question which has received considerable at- 
tention, especially in recent years, has arisen in connec- 
tion with the rather general criticism of so-called ^^unrear' 
problems, especially in mathematics. Every teacher 
needs to have some criterion by which useless problems 
can be eliminated from schoolwork. What shall that 
criterion be? 

Education through the means of a school is better than 
education through ordinary experience only in so far as 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN PROBLEM -SOLVING 169 

the school is able to select, sift, organize, present, and 
interpret actual experience in such a way that the pupil 
will gain knowledge, insight, and wisdom more rapidly 
and of a better quality than he could have gained from 
life outside the school. The presentation and interpre- 
tation of experience can frequently be done more effec- 
tively through the use of type examples and problems 
so arranged as to illustrate and impress those things 
which the teacher wants the pupil to notice, than it can 
be accomplished by examples which represent actual 
happenings. The value of a problem calling for the cost 
of a certain number of pounds at so much per pound 
does not depend upon whether a certain merchant on 
such and such a date sold that number of pounds of a 
specific commodity at that particular price to a 
customer by such and such a name, living at such and 
such an address. 

The values of problems, like the values of literature, 
depend not so much upon whether they present things 
and situations as they have actually happened but rather 
upon whether they present things and situations which 
are typical of real life. There are teachers who are such 
extreme ^Vealists'' that they will accept as valuable only 
that which has actually happened. They do not seem 
to realize that hopes and ideals as to what has never 
happened, but ought to happen, may be of vastly more 
consequence than the literal narration of events that 
have taken place. 

In our inquiry we have so far proceeded by doing the 
following things: (1) Gaining some immediate experi- 
ence, concerning the problem in question, (2) Thinking 



170 TEACHING TO THINK 

about this experience in order to discover its meaning 
and in order to arrive at some definite opinions of our 
own, and (3) Amplifying, clarifying, and correcting our 
own opinions by comparing them with the opinions of 
persons who have made special investigations or who 
have canvassed the general literature on the subject. Our 
next step must be to reduce the knowledge and the in- 
sight which we have gained to principles or practical rules 
which can be applied in teaching. The following list is 
intended to be suggestive rather than exhaustive: 

1. Rules concerning attitudes favorable for the effi- 
cient solving of problems : 

(1) Select the most lucid moments for the most im- 
portant and difficult problems. Individuals differ widely 
as to the occurrences of such moments, which depend on 
personal habits of working, resting, eating, and on the en- 
vironment generally. Most of us have certain moments 
when our minds work better than at other times, but 
such moments are rare and, consequently, should be de- 
voted to our most important problems. 

(2) Concentrate. Shut out distractions of all sorts. 
This is generally secured by such means as comparative 
quietness, a flat-top desk from which everything foreign 
to the matter in hand is removed, absence of pictures, 
bric-a-brac, and possibly of books also; in short, by re- 
moving from our immediate vicinity everything which 
tends to make us think of things foreign to the problem to 
be solved. 

(3) Be optimistic. Assume that the problem can be 
solved. The principal virtue of l^his attitude is that the 
person who has it keeps on making new attempts. The 



/ 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN PROBLEM-SOLVING 171 

chief danger in pessimism or lack of faith is that they 
make a person give up too easily. 

(4) Cultivate the problem attitude. Do not worry 
about what others think or say about your ability, your 
methods, or about the impossibility of the problem. 
Think only of the object to be reached and of ways and 
means for accomplishing the task. 

2. Rules concerning procedure: 

(1) Make very sure that you understand exactly 
what is to be accomplished. Ruger tells of one subject 
who worked ten hours on a puzzle, trying to do some- 
thing which was impossible, because of failure to find 
out just what was to be done. 

(2) Analyze the problem. Break it up into smaller 
problems. Attack the easiest one of these first. 

(3) Plan a method of attack; that is, canvass the 
possible methods of solution and select the one which 
seems most direct and feasible. 

(4) Take stock of the available means for dealing 
with the problem. Recall previous experiences with 
similar problems. 

(5) Speculate. Make tentative guesses as to possible an- 
swers. Try to work backward in order to discover what the 
conditions would have to be in order to produce such an- 
swers. 

(6) Look for further information. 

(7) If you are puzzled let the matter rest awhile. If 
possible take it up at your next ''lucid moment.'' This 
may enable you to make a vigorous attack from a new 
direction and the solution may come easily. 

(8) When the answer has been found, check it for 
possible errors. 



172 TEACHING TO THINK 

3. Rules concerning transfer: — 

(1) Review the solution in order to discover those 
elements which the problem in question has in common 
with other problems. 

(2) Formulate rules which will express the method of 
solution applicable to problems of a similar kind. 

(3) Formulate rules to insure the accuracy necessary 
for arriving at a correct solution. 

4. Rules or principles concerning the educational 
values of problem-solving:— 

(1) The educational value of solving a problem in 
the ordinary subjects does not consist primarily in find- 
ing the answer, but rather in the development of the 
following types of insight and skill: (a) Ability to read 
and understand problems, (b) The habit of insisting 
upon knowing very definitely what is to be accomplished, 
(c) Skill in planning a direct attack, (d) The habit of 
accuracy and verification in all work, (e) Development 
of ingenuity in meeting original problems, and (f) Abil- 
ity to review a solution or a series of solutions and to 
generalize the experience gained. 

(2) The educational values of problems are not only 
specific but also individual in their nature. One pupil 
may need extensive drill in the reading and interpreta- 
tion of problems, another may need practice in verifying 
his work, another may need practice in planning attacks. 
The actual value of problem-solving for each pupil de- 
pends upon whether he receives practice in that phase of 
the work in which he needs it most. This means that 
problem-solving, like spelling and language work, must 
consist largely in individual training. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN PROBLEM-SOLVING 173 

NOTES ON PUZZLES 

(1) Piercing nine stars with four connecting straight lines. 

Suggestion: Do the directions place any limit upon the length 
of the lines? Incidentally, it may be interesting to ask your- 
self whence that idea came to you. 

(2) The triangle puzzle. Suggestion: Have you been 
thinking only in terms of plane figures? 

(3) The square puzzle. Suggestion: In how many ways 
can the two pieces of one of the small squares be fitted to- 
gether? How long must one of the sides of the big square be? 



THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. What is the key to success in solving the "trace-with- 
one-stroke" type of puzzle? The triangle puzzle? The 
railway puzzle? 

2. If a person did not know square root, what suggestion 
would you give him for attacking the puzzle of the five 
squares? 

3. Did your experiences in solving puzzles agree with those 
summarized from Ruger? Which of his conclusions do you 
consider the most important? 

4. What type of problem is illustrated by the following 
expressions: "Live according to Nature^'; "All men have 
natural rights^^; "All men are created free and equal"? 

5. Make a list of ten problems in each of the common 
branches. Classify them into groups or types. Suggest the 
general procedure best adapted for dealing with each group. 

6. Resolved: That the problems presented in geography are 
more valuable than those in history. Discuss them. 

7. Resolved: That the methods used in solving problems in 

are more applicable and effective in solving the 

ordinary difficulties of daily life than the methods used in 
other school subjects. Supply the missing word. 

8. What, if any, is the problem value of the "scrambled 
sentence" or the "scrambled paragraph"? The former is pro- 
duced by mixing the words of a sentence ; the latter by mixing 
the sentences of a paragraph. What, if any, would be the 



174 TEACHING TO THINK 

value of "scrambled problems" in arithmetic; that is, of pre- 
senting the facts of a problem in a jumbled form and requiring 
the pupils to state the problem? 

9. What, if any, is the value of the type of problem illus- 
trated by the following examples? 

(1) A man buys a certain number of pecks of apples. How 
do you find how many bushels he buys? 

(2) If you know the number of hours per day that a man 
works, the number of days he works during the week, and his 
wages per hour, how do you find the amount he has earned at 
the end of the week? 

10. What, if any, is the value of problems like the one fol- 
lowing? 

Supply the missing figures: 

-2t 



-44- 
-7-^ 

2-3-8 



11. The following problem was given to a sophomore class 
in college: If 3 cats catch 3 rats in 3 minutes, how many cats 
can catch 100 rats in 100 minutes. The answers obtained 
from 126 students were as follows: No answer (11), one cat 
(12), three cats (16), 24 cats (1), 30 cats (1), 331/3 cats (7), 
34 cats (1), 100 cats (71), 300 cats (5), 333 cats (1). Why 
do you suppose the answers were so different? What is the 
correct answer? 

12. Try this problem on someone. A wagon is driven 
toward the east at the rate of six miles an hour. How fast 
does the top of the wagon wheel move toward the east? The 
hub? The lowest part? 

13. A man hires a cab to take him to a city 12 miles away 
and back for $4. Six miles out from where he started he 
takes on a passenger, carries him to the city and back to 
where he met him. What should the passenger pay as his just 
share? 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN PROBLEM-SOLVING 175 

14. Are any or all the problems given in 10-13 catch ques- 
tions or not? Are they valuable or worthless problems? 

15. Which of the two parallel rulers in Figure 11 is the 
more practical, A or B? Why? 




Fig. 11 



16. In the diagram in Figure 12, triangle a-b-c is made of 
strips of wood; a^d is a cord to which a weight is attached. 
How can this contrivance be used as a level? 




Fig. 12 

17. The following diagrams (Figure 13) represent strips of 
wood fastened together by one nail at each intersection. 
Which of the forms will change shape if pressed on opposite 
sides or at opposite vertices? 






Fig. 13. 



18. Are any or all of the problems above, 15-17, catch 
problems? Describe a pupil for whom one of them might be 
a catch problem. 



176 TEACHING TO THINK 

19. Would you expect any transfer of training from work- 
ing a series of puzzles like the following "Match Puzzle^' to 
the working of one like the "Clock Puzzle"? Why? 

Match Puzzle, Take 24 matches and arrange them as 
shown in the diagram (Figure 14) . Then remove 8 matches in 
such a way as to leave just two complete squares and no more. 



Fig. 14. 
Match Puzzle. . 

Clock Puzzle. A certain clock dial, which was made of 
glass and which had upon it the hours indicated in Roman 
numerals, broke into four pieces. It was discovered that the 
figures on each piece made exactly the number twenty. Make 
a diagram of the pieces into which the dial broke. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SOLVING 

LONG PROBLEMS 

School problems, as a rule, have a decided ^^shortness" 
about them. They may with propriety be called '^minute 
problems/' a designation equally appropriate whichever 
way the word ^^minute'' is pronounced. Occasionally a 
pupil may be studying a problem for half an hour or 
even for a whole hour; very rarely for any longer period. 
Now, if school is to be a preparation for life by being a 
good sample of real life, it must present problems typical 
of those which appear in life. Are we to understand that 
a person's life work will be made up almost entirely of 
short problems and that his success will depend mainly 
on his ability to solve little diflBculties? Daily life does 
present to every individual a large number of minor 
diflSculties. There are little pains and pleasures, little 
joys and sorrows, little rights and duties. But that is 
not all. There are also big perplexities, long problems, 
great achievements, and our real success or failure will 
depend on our ability and determination to ^^stay by" 
these long problems until they have been solved, even if 
it takes '^all summer'' or a whole lifetime to do it. 

Consider for a moment some of the problems of one of 
our most important occupations, farming. In order to 

177 



178 TEACHING TO THINK 

produce the kind of goods which will find a ready market 
a farmer must be well informed about supply and de- 
mand, a matter which involves problems extending over 
one or more years. The soil must be prepared for the 
kind of crop which is to be raised, a problem which, for 
proper rotation, requires three or four years. Stock- 
raising demands the selection of suitable breeds and con- 
stant attention to the improvement of the stock. It 
takes a long time to build up a first-class herd. To plan 
and build up a farm place requires ten to twenty years 
or even more. When a long-headed young farmer wishes 
to buy a farm on which to live and raise his family, he 
must consider many things which lie years in the future. 
Will his children have a chance to get the education that 
they ought to have? Will they as they grow up have the 
proper social surroundings? Will he be able to work out 
his ambitions regarding an ideal farm home? 

It is true that a very large part of the success of a 
farmer depends on his ability to deal with the small 
diflficulties which present themselves from hour to hour 
in his work. It is true also that considerable success can 
be attained by those who think about their work only 
from season to season. However, it must be borne in 
mind that such a success is largely vicarious in its real 
nature. The "short-headed'' man may attain a measure 
of success because he imitates his long-headed neighbor. 

As it is in farming so it is in other vocations. The 
proportion of long problems is not the same in all occu- 
pations; but each one has its share, and upon the solu- 
tion of such problems hinge the big successes to be 
attained. 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SOLVING LONG PROBLEMS 179 

The pupils in some schools get considerable training 
in dealing with long problems through the various stu- 
dent activities which are permitted or fostered. The or- 
ganizing of an athletic team, securing the proper train- 
ing, arranging a schedule for contests, playing the games, 
and taking the victories and defeats in sportsmanlike 
fashion is a good long problem for those who take part 
in it with their heads as well as their bodies. Organizing 
a literary society, adopting a constitution and by-laws, 
electing efl&cient ofl&cers, making plans for a series of 
programs, contests, and ^'doings,'' is a problem of no mean 
dimensions. Publishing a school paper, maintaining a 
glee club, an orchestra, or a band, or organizing a system 
of self-government to take charge of some phase of 
student life are matters to be successfully achieved only 
by sustained attention and effort for several months or 
years. Then there are a number of projects or organiza- 
tions any of which may last for a comparatively short 
time. Committee assignments, temporary clubs, and 
associations for the achievement of this or that end re- 
quire thinking and planning for several days or weeks. 

Curiously enough many teachers have looked upon 
such student activities as more or less necessary evils, to 
be tolerated mainly for the purpose of supplying an out- 
let for the exuberant spirits of the students who other- 
wise would be likely to cause disturbances in the life of y 
the school. Many teachers have been blind with respect!/^ 
to the kind of training that life really demands. They 
have failed to understand that their pupils more or less 
instinctively have been trying to play with long prob- 
lems in order to balance the work of the classroom. When 



180 TEACHING TO THINK 

yan upper classman in college gives this advice to a new 
student: "Don't let your studies interfere with your get- 
ting an education/' it is difl&cult for the teacher to see 
any wisdom in it. The interpretation of such advice 
is, "Don't spend so much time on the short and un- 
real problems of the classroom that you fail to get any 
training in dealing with the long problems that lie close 
to life." 

There has been some reason for such rather uncompli- 
mentary advice as was given by the upper classman. 
v^/'Much of the work in elementary and secondary schools, 
as well as in colleges, has been too petty. It has dealt 
with problems concerning which it made little or no dif- 
ference whether they ever were solved or not. It has em- 
phasized duties and virtues which are of little account in 
ordinary life. 

A decided change has appeared, however, during the 
last few years. Through the influence of Dewey, Mc- 
Murry, and others, the wide-awake teachers in all classes 
of schools have made strenuous efforts to organize the 
subject matter in their courses into large problems 
directly related to life. Many of the problems have, no 
doubt, been purely formal and have failed to grip the 
pupils; but excellent beginnings have been made in many 
schools, as shown by the outlines of courses which have 
been published. Yet many teachers and schools are still 
following the old methods. The big task now before 
supervisors and superintendents is to get the average 
teacher to do what the leading teachers are doing. How 
can this be accomplished? Mainly by arousing a thought- 
ful attitude of mind which will result in attempts, not to 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SOLVING LONG PROBLEMS 181 

copy what others have done, but to organize the work 
into problems which shall be vital to teachers and pupils 
afike. 

This will require first of all a liberation from the old 
conceptions of a course of study. Many courses of study 
which have required the covering of a specified number 
of pages in given text-books must be scrapped ; it makes 
no difference how carefully and painstakingly they have 
been worked out to the smallest detail. They are useless 
for the purpose of getting teachers and pupils to think. 
They are, as a matter of fact, preventive of thinking. 
They represent the efforts of superintendent or super- 
visors to think for the teachers and pupils. 

Problems in school work in order to be real and grip- 
ping must spring from the experience of the pupils and 
teachers. Some of the best problems spring from the 
various activities of the school and cannot possibly be 
outlined in any course of study. The teacher must be 
alert and interested in the thought life of the pupils. He 
must be able to sense their perplexities. He must see to 
it that these perplexities, often dimly felt by the pupils 
themselves, are raised into consciousness and expressed 
in questions and problems. He must take these ques- 
tions and problems and use them as nuclei for facts and 
ideas which are thus to be woven together into usable 
idea groups. 

This means that the courses of study must aim to be 
developmental and not merely informational. It means 
that knowledge shall not be valued for itself, but that 
facts, ideas, and principles are to be regarded as tools 
with which the pupils and the teacher learn to solve 



182 TEACHING TO THINE 

their perplexities. By this I do not mean that the orderly 
and systematic curriculum of the past is to be super- 
seded by a chaos of childish questions and fancies, or that 
we are to cultivate a disregard for knowledge. I do mean 
that it is to be the business of the school to present such 
an environment and to so stimulate the pupils that the 
perplexities and problems which arise will be typical of 
those which the pupils will be likely to encounter in their 
later life, or, as Cubberley has expressed it: 

"The purpose of instruction is changed from the memoriza- 
tion of facts, to the fitting of pupils for personal responsi- 
bilities; from that of accumulating information, to that of 
training young people to stand on their own feet; from that 
of transmitting to them the inherited knowledge of the past, 
y to that of preparing them for social efficiency in the life of 
to-morrow." ^ 

The developmental course of study is dynamic rather 
than static. While it contains those constants which all 
pupils should master, it seeks also to meet the changing 
needs. This requires that teachers and principals shall 
cooperate in outlining the curriculum, and that they must 
ever be on the lookout for improvements and new ad- 
justments to the life of the community in which the 
school is located. It requires the development of the 
problem attitude of mind and a constant study of life 
conditions. 

In order to cultivate the problem attitude, a teacher 
will find it an excellent practice, from time to time, to 
group the main facts relating to a subject about a few 
large problems stated in such a way as to seem of vital 

* Cubberley. — Public School Administration, 284; (1916). 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SOLVING LONG PROBLEMS 183 

importance in the present-day life of the pupils. How- 
ever, such a series of problems should be presented only 
tentatively, never as part of a fixed routine that must be 
completed. I have seen many sets of such problems that 
were no better and were no more vital than the ordinary 
chapter headings of old textbooks. The main value of 
preparing a series of problems is that it sets the teacher 
free from slavery to the textbook and gives him mastery 
over the subject through his using the information for 
purposes of interest to himself and his pupils. If to the 
freedom thus acquired is added some ingenuity and skill 
in presenting the problems that have been prepared, it 
will be safe to expect that the pupils will become vitally 
interested in some of the questions, either as they are 
stated by the teacher or as they may be remodeled by the 
pupils and teacher working together. Some problems are 
likely to prove worthless so far as having any power to 
grip the pupils is concerned. However, they may suggest 
other questions and thus contribute to the work of the 
class. 

Suppose, for the sake of illustration, that a teacher 
groups the main facts in a course in United States his- 
tory around eight problems which seem to be thoroughly 
worth while and of vital interest in present-day thinking. 
Suppose these problems to be presented as a course during 
the next school year. It may happen that two of the 
problems fail to arouse any genuine interest in the pupils. 
One may be lost in the shuffle of other discussions, and 
two others may survive by being amended and remodeled 
in the class. Let us suppose that two of the problems 
stimulate a great deal of interest and that they result in 



184 TEACHING TO THINK 

much discussion and investigation by the pupils. If the 
teacher is very fortunate, one of the problems may grip 
the pupils in such a way that they cannot let go of it. 
It develops into a whole series of other problems and 
results in a number of discussions, both in school and out 
of school. It brings about the organization of committees 
to investigate questions at issue through collateral read- 
ing or by consulting people who may be supposed to 
possess information of value. This last may be done 
either through personal interviews or through corres- 
pondence. In short, it turns out to be a real problem, 
occupying the attention of the class during a large por- 
tion of the school year. 

Now let us suppose that the teacher who has given a 
course with the results we have just described, feels 
a desire to give a still better course the succeeding year. 
The first thing for him to do would be to get all the pos- 
sible profit out of his previous experience. Why did some 
problems fail to interest the pupils? Was it due to the 
nature of the problems or was it due to the way in which 
they were presented? Why was the amended statement 
of some of the problems better than the original? What 
was there about the ^^big'^ problem that gripped the class 
so strongly? Could the same factors have been used in 
any of the other problems? What methods were most 
efficient for stimulating thought and freedom of expres- 
sion on the part of the pupils? How could more valu- 
able "by-products'' have been obtained for the class and 
the community? These and other questions will confront 
the teacher as he thinks over his experience and attempts 
to interpret it. 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SOLVING LONG PROBLEMS 185 

The preparation of the "better course'' will consist in 
making a revised set of problems and in planning how 
to interest the pupils in each one. Those problems which 
did not arouse the interest of the pupils and which do 
not readily yield to amendment will be omitted, others 
will be remodeled. Questions suggested hy the pupils 
will be included as an important part of the course. It 
may be worth while to organize the whole, course around 
the "big" problem as a nucleus. There will be one ten- 
dency to counteract. A teacher is likely to regard such 
an improved course as quite perfect and to insist that 
the class shall accept it as such, with the result that the 
work may become as perfunctory as if based upon a for- 
mal outline of the old type, which we all used to follow so 
conscientiously. 

Any series of problems must be presented tentatively 
and must find justification, not in the past success of 
the problems, but solely in the success with which they 
stimulate vigorous thinking by the pupils to whom they 
are presented. It may happen, for example, that the 
problem which proved such a big success one year will 
fail to arouse any special interest when presented to a 
class the next year, while a problem of apparently lesser 
interest may become the gripping one. The wise teacher 
is not discouraged by any such results. He knows that 
the reaction to any given problem depends quite as much 
upon the pupils as upon the problem, and that it is per- 
fectly natural that separate classes respond differently 
to the questions that are put to them. He knows, too, 
that if he is really and truly to be more successful, the 
secret of that success will be found in a more ready un- 



186 TEACHING TO THINK 

derstanding of his pupils and a willingness to adapt the 
course to their needs as the work advances, in order that 
the problems may be their problems rather than his. 

What has been said about history can readily be ap- 
plied to other subjects, such as geography, civics, hygiene, 
agriculture, and general science. All of these courses 
tend to disintegrate into a large number of what Bacon 
called ^Vermiculate'^ questions. They ought to be pul- 
sating, stimulating centers of vigorous thought about 
problems vital to the happiness and welfare of the pupils. 

Good teaching will present all school subjects in such 
a manner that the pupils will get training in eflScient in- 
dividual thinking as well as in cooperative thinking about 
long problems, perplexities that last sometimes for weeks 
or even months. It will do more than that. It will at- 
tempt to arouse interest and develop skill in attacking 
problems which it may take years to solve. 

One of the most important of these problems is that 
of choosing a vocation. That this is important for the 
pupil, anyone can discover by observing the many un- 
happy and unsuccessful misfits in all walks of life. It is 
also important for the efl&ciency of the school, as any 
teacher can testify if he has had in his classes students 
who had a definite life work before them and were anxious 
to get as much and as effective training as possible to pre- 
pare them for such a work, and if he also has had students 
who were merely drifting along, not knowing and not 
caring whither they were going. It is important for de- 
mocracy that the formation of set classes or castes shall 
be prevented, and that every youth shall discover what 
his talents are and how he can best serve his country. 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SOLVING LONG PROBLEMS 187 

The vocational guidance movement started about ten 
years ago in this country. So rapidly has it developed 
that a recent bulletin^ published by the Bureau of Edu- 
cation in Washington contains a bibliography of thirty 
pages on this subject. Roughly speaking, one may clas- 
sify the various attempts that have been made in this 
field as (1) Attempts to solve the problem for each pupil, 
and (2) Attempts to aid and stimulate each pupil to 
solve his problem for himself. 

To the first class belongs all the work of experts who 
examine individuals and, on the basis of such examina- 
tion, suggest the vocation for which each individual is 
supposed to be fitted. Here, too, belong placement bu- 
reaus and all similar agencies, whose aim is to provide a 
person, who does not know what he can do or where he 
can find anything to do, with a suitable job. Such 
agencies usually make a more or less thorough investi- 
gation about each candidate and give him a rating based 
upon personal examination and upon testimony obtained 
from others. While these agencies are of great social 
and economic importance, they do not directly concern 
the teacher in his function as a ^^promoter of efficient 
thinking'' on the part of his pupils. 

To the second class belong all the activities and efforts 
needed for arousing each pupil to a realization of the ne- 
cessity of intelligently choosing a vocation, for aiding him 
to make a true estimate of his talents, for giving him in- 
formation which will make it possible to evaluate the dif- 
ferent vocations with respect to their requirements and 

*Ryan. — "Vocational Guidance and the Public Schools," Bureau of 
Education Bulletin, 1918, No. 24. 



188 TEACHING TO THINE 

advantages, and finally to provide him with information 
about institutions in which he can obtain suitable train- 
ing for the vocation that he may select; all supplied in 
such a manner that it shall stimulate him to vigorous 
thinking and firm conviction. 

In these activities, the teacher must of necessity be 
intensely interested; nay, more, he must use them as 
opportunities for developing the pupils' ability to think 
about a "really long problem." 

'^Two facts, strike one forcibly as one considers the need 
of vocational guidance in our schools. One is that never 
before in the world's history have fourteen- or fifteen-year- 
old children had it so much in their own hands to make 
some of the most momentous decisions of life; such de- 
cisions as the sort of school or course they will enter, how 
long they will stay, the work they will leave school for, and 
how long they will stay in this work. The other fact is that 
never as much as now have we needed a constructive policy 
on the part of the schools to make up to these children what 
an industrial age has taken from them in the way of home 
influence, normal surroundings, and the vocationally directive 
value of their daily experiences.'^ ^ 

What can be done to interest pupils in the problem 
of choosing a vocation and to aid them to think efficiently 
so as to arrive at an intelligent conclusion? One of the 
leaders in vocational guidance, Jesse B. Davis,^ has sug- 
gested that it can be done in connection with English 
Composition by means of a series of themes covering the 
years of the Junior and Senior high school course. The 
special phases of the problem to be taken up in each year 
have been summarized in the following table: 

* Bloomfield. — Vocational Guidance and the High School. 
^ Davis. — Vocational and Moral Guidance: 1914. 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SOLVING LONG PEOBLEMS 189 



TABLE III 



Grade 
Seventh 



Semester 
Both 



Eighth Both 



Ninth 



First 



Tenth 



Second 



First 



Eleventh First 



Aim 

Vocational 
ambition. 



Value of an 
education. 



Character, 
self-analysis. 



Character 
analysis 
through 
biography. 

The world's 
work. 



Second Choosing a 
vocation. 



Preparation for 
my vocation. 



Second Vocational 
ethics. 



Suggested Themes 

My favorite books, hero or 
heroine, games; the kind of man 
(or woman) I wish to be; what I 
should like to do; etc. 

Hunting a job; ''Blind alley" 
jobs; what adults say about the 
need of an education; advan- 
tages of going to high school; 
money value of education; satis- 
factions obtained through edu- 
cation; etc. 

How I prepare my lesson ; read 
a book; use my memory; my 
health; my habits; my inheri- 
tance; things I can do to 
strengthen my character; etc. 

Brief character sketches; when 
is a man (or woman) successful? 
value of a fixed purpose; over- 
coming handicaps; etc. 

Systematic study of the gen- 
eral nature of a vocation and the 
preparation needed to meet its 
requirements; also the opportu- 
nities for entering it; etc. 

My natural abilities; voca- 
tional experiences; the prefer- 
ences of my family; the need of 
choosing a vocation; the voca- 
tion I should like to enter; etc. 

(1) Education required — what 
school to select, subjects to take, 
length of training needed, etc. 

(2) Character — traits impor- 
tant for success, how developed, 
etc. 

Moral problems of the various 
professions; such as journalism, 
law, medicine, manufacturing, 
etc. 



190 TEACHING TO THINK 

Twelfth First Social Social responsibilities, methods 

ethics. and agencies for social welfare, 

etc. 

Second Civic The relations of the various 

ethics. vocations to local and state gov- 

ernment, etc. 

It will be noticed that the plan suggested by Mr. Davis 
calls for a systematic thought study under the guidance 
of the teachers of English and covering a period of sev- 
eral years. What can be done in small schools where 
such an extensive plan would be impracticable? Consider 
for a moment the factors involved in an intelligent selec- 
tion of a vocation. 

There must clearly enough be the following: 

1. A knowledge of a number of typical vocations, in 
order that there may be a fair number among which to 
select. This knowledge can best be obtained in a good 

^practical study of geography, in which the different voca- 
tions are made prominent. There should be frequent 
debates concerning the relative advantages of the various 
vocations and the natural resources needed for each. 

2. A knowledge of the natural abilities required and 
the possibilities of overcoming individual handicaps. 
This can be secured through well-directed reading of 
biographies and should result in contributions to the 
classes in history and English, each pupil presenting the 
results of his reading to the class and the class discussing 
the report and making comparisons between the conclu- 
sions presented in different reports. 

3. A knowledge of the education and special training 
needed for a successful pursuit of the vocations consid- 
ered desirable. This can be obtained by means of general 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SOLVING LONG PROBLEMS 191 

reading and through study of recently published manuals 
and bulletins about the principal occupations. Much 
stimulating work can be done by interviewing men and 
women in the home community and by correspondence 
with others who may be presumed to have the informa- 
tion desired, this latter giving real practice in letter writ- 
ing and composition. 

4. An analysis of the pupil's native talents and likes 
and dislikes. Is the pupil primarily a hand worker or a 
head worker? Which type of work gives him the deepest 
satisfaction? Is he physically robust or delicate? Does 
he prefer outdoor or indoor life? Does he prefer to follow 
his own plans or to follow directions given by others? 
Is he sociable or naturally reticent? Is he rapid or slow? 
Does he prefer to work with big things or with little 
things? Is he naturally accurate or inaccurate? These 
and other questions which will suggest themselves will 
help to decide, at least roughly, whether a person has the 
native talents for a given vocation or not. Of course, it 
must be borne in mind that almost any natural handicap 
can be overcome, provided there is sufficient ambition 
and determination to make the necessary effort. 
. The importance of a person's early likes and dislikes, 
as indicators for vocational selection, is stated by Thorn- 
dike in the following words: 



"Interests are shown to be symptomatic, to a very great 
extent, of present and future ability. Either because one likes 
what he can do well, or because one gives zeal and effort to 
what he likes, or because interest and ability are both symp- 
toms of some fundamental feature of the individual's original 
nature, or because of the combined action of all three of these 



192 TEACHING TO THINK 

factors, interests and ability are bound very close together. 
The bond is so close that either may be used as a symptom for 
the other almost as well as for itself. The importance of 
these facts for the whole field of practice with respect to early 
diagnosis, vocational guidance, the work of social secretaries, 
deans, advisers, and others who direct students' choices of 
schools, studies, and careers is obvious. They should be taken 
account of in such practice until they are verified or modified 
by data obtained by a better method; and such data should 
soon be collected. The better method is, of course, to get 
the measurements of relative interests and of relative ability, 
not from memory, but at the time, and not from the indi- 
vidual's reports alone, but by objective tests." ^ 

5. An investigation of opportunities for getting the 
best training for the vocation that may be selected. This 
will call for considerable letter writing, not only in send- 
' ing for catalogs and bulletins but in making inquiries of 
men and women who may be presumed to know the 
relative merits of the various types of training that are 
offered. Before any person enters an institution or a 
class he has the right, and it is his duty, to inquire con- 
cerning the results that he may expect from his attend- 
ance. As there are "blind alley" vocations, so there are 
"blind alley" courses and institutions. Probably the ma- 
jority of pupils in the high schools have no definite idea 
as to where their course is leading them or what specific 
benefits they may expect to derive from a given subject. 

Some people will undoubtedly object to any attempts 
to influence pupils in the elementary or secondary schools 
to consider the question of the selection of a vocation 
and will claim that such pupils are entirely too immature 

^ Secondary quotation from Hollingworth's Vocational Psychology, 
191-2. Location of original not stated. 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SOLVING LONG PROBLEMS 193 

to think effectively about such a problem. If the purpose 
of the consideration of such a problem by immature 
pupils were that of arriving as speedily as possible at a 
conclusion which could not later be changed, the objec- 
tion would be a valid one. However, that is not the 
purpose. Rather it is to give the pupils such training 
as will develop in them ability to think effectively 
about choosing a vocation when the proper time comes. 
It must be granted that as things are, very many 
young people give no thought whatever to the selection 
of a vocation, but drift into those positions that happen 
to be open. Others attempt to do some thinking; but as 
they have never been trained to think about a long prob- 
lem, they are unable to keep their minds in suspense. 
Such a thinker will jump at the first conclusion which 
comes to his mind, in order to "get it settled one way or 
another.'' It is because we have not permitted children 
to think about this problem, since we were afraid that they 
could not think so wisely as adults, that we have so many 
adults who think about it as if they were children. 

What are the chief values to be realized by stimulat- 
ing children to think about a long problem such as the 
one which has been advocated? 

1. Children gain first-hand experience with a long 
problem in such a manner as to realize its nature, and 
thereby may be saved from attempting, later in life, to 
deal with long tasks as if they were like the little school 
tasks set from day to day. 

2. They learn the art of breaking up a big problem 
into smaller problems by asking questions and analysing 
it into its elements. 



194 TEACHING TO THINK 

3. -They learn to suspend their judgment until all the 
evidence is in and to keep it suspended if sufficient in- 
formation is not available. 

4. The most important benefit of considering such a 
problem is that it gives the pupils an opportunity for 
cooperative thinking, demonstrates the value of such 
thinking, and shows ways and means for doing it. As 
citizens we realize that practically all our big problems, 
in order to be solved rightly, must be solved by coopera- 
tive thinking. Why not then display a little enthusiasm 
over any school that gives its pupils a chance to become 
skilled in this kind of cooperation? If all our public and 
private schools would begin to train their pupils in think- 
ing cooperatively, no one would need to be alarmed about 
the "safety of democracy." 

5. The problem will serve as a nucleus for much 
valuable information which will be likely to remain with 
the pupils because the problem to which it is related 
will remain. 

6. It will afford a splendid opportunity for gathering 
material under conditions that are quite similar to those 
of everyday life, in which our perplexities come to us 
without formal assignments into topics and sub-topics 
and without detailed information as to what books and 
pages to read. A wise teacher will let the pupils ask 
their own questions, develop their own topics, find their 
own material, present it in their own way, and receive 
the judgments of approval or disapproval from a "jury 
of their peers.'' 

7. It will give real practice in oral and written com- 
position, because every pupil in the group will be ex- 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SOLVING LONG PROBLEMS 195 

pected to gather information by oral interviews, or else 
by correspondence, with persons who may be presumed 
to know something worth while about the matter in 
* question. When reports are presented to the class they 
will be real contributions. 

8. It will give opportunity for the conflict of opinions, 
for debates in which the purpose is that of discovering 
the truth, for having one's opinion prevail without 
humiUating the other fellow, and for ^^giving in'' without 
getting sore. Note what the following excerpt from a 
committee report on a project in cooperative thinking 
reveals: 



"This volume is the product of Group Thinking. Although 
the constituent parts were written by separate authors, yet 
no one division of the contributions made in the construction 
of this work can be said to have sprung from the cerebrum of 
any single individual. It is a composite piece of work. 

"In first attacking the problem . . . our conferences were 
medleys of heated arguments and discussions. Gradually the 
problem began to take form and divide itself into logical 
divisions so that we could begin to do individual work on the 
various phases which it presented. Our conferences from now 
on consisted of a report from each member which was attacked 
by the others to detect any flaws which it may have contained. 

"Each member would then, acting upon the suggestions and 
criticisms of his colleagues, continue the study of his own 
phase of the problem. Whenever differences of opinion oc- 
curred, and they were by no means infrequent, the question was 
always argued out to a definite, unanimous decision of the 
group." ^ 

^This quotation is taken from the preface of an unpublished thesis, 
A Practical Plan for Establishing a System of Vocational Guidance at 
St. Olaf College, by Oscar Fylling, Ludvig Rice, Enoch Norem, and 
George Sime, 



196 TEACHING TO THINK 

9. It gives practice in organizing the information 
obtained into a systematic whole, evaluating the various 
parts and assigning to them their proportionate amount 
of space. 

The chief functions of the teacher who wishes to train 
his pupils to think about long problems are the 
following: 

1. To advertise enthusiastically the value of think- 
ing about long problems and of thinking cooperatively. 

2. To ask intelligent and stimulating questions and 
offer suggestions about ways and means for further work 
whenever the pupils begin to lose interest. 

3. To insist on organization and division of labor in 
such a way as to prevent a situation in which a few do 
all the work while the others loaf. 

4. To act as the enthusiastic ^^fan" who is ready to 
cheer whenever good results are achieved. 

5. Whenever possible to provide some competition, 
the greatest stimulus known for securing intense effort. 

6. To be zealous about accuracy, reliability, and ex- 
cellence to such a degree that the feeling will be con- 
tagious. 

7. Always to think with the pupils rather than for 
them ; that is, to practice cooperative thinking as well as 
to preach it. 

THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. What was your school experience? How many long 
problems did you and your schoolmates work out in connec- 
tion with regular class work? 

2. If you were asked to plan a course in United States 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SOLVING LONG PROBLEMS 197 

history in the form of six or eight vital problems, which ones 
would you select? 

3. In order to think effectively about the choice of voca- 
tions, many persons must first get rid of some of their preju- 
dices and false notions of value. Illustrate. 

4. Inglis ^ says that from the standpoint of the school, 
vocational, moral, social, and avocational guidance are to be 
regarded as phases of educational guidance. What do you 
suppose is the basis for this view? 

5. Inglis also says that the older conception of educational 
guidance meant primarily the giving of advice or telling 
the pupil what to select, and that the more recent conception 
means that the pupil shall be given opportunities to become 
acquainted with the privileges, demands, and responsibilities 
of life by actual contact in such a way that he discovers his 
own capacities and preferences. In what respects is the latter 
a more truly educational guidance? 

6. In a recently published report ^ the aim of education is 
stated as follows: 

"Education in a democracy, both within and without the school, 
should develop in each individual the knowledge, interest, ideals, 
habits, and powers whereby he will find his place and use that 
place to shape both himself and society toward ever nobler ends.^' 

How would you define ^^powers" as here used, if the defini- 
tion as a whole were your own? 

7. The same report enumerates the following as the "main 
objectives of education'^: (1) Health. (2) Command of 
fundamental processes. (3) Worthy home membership. (4) 
Vocation. (5) Citizenship. (6) Worthy use of leisure. 
(7) Ethical character. What place do you think a school 
ought to give to the development of cooperative thinking if it 
wishes to attain these objectives? 

8. The intelligent selection of electives in a high school 
implies that the pupils have already chosen the general field 

* Inglis. — Principles of Secondary Education, 717-8. 

^Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education; a report of the Com- 
mission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education, appointed by 
the National Educational Association. (Bureau of Education Bulletin, 
1918, No. 35.) 



198 TEACHING TO THINK 

of their vocations. Resolved: That electives should be abol- 
ished because the pupils have not the necessary knowledge or 
experience to give them any basis for selecting their courses. 
Discuss the resolution. 

9. Investigations show that pupils who obtain high marks 
in the last four years of the grades usually obtain good grades 
in the high school, and that those who do well in the high 
school usually do well in college. What bearing does this have 
on educational guidance? 

10. Can you name a course or subject that might properly 
be designated as an "educational blind alley''? 

11. Professor Colvin makes this statement: — 

"Effective reasoning, then, does not consist so much in following 
logical norms as they have been elaborated in great detail in 
various texts, as it does in having certain correct attitudes of 
mind, and a genius to select those particular elements in the 
situation that bear upon the problem." ^ 

What do you suppose he means by "certain correct attitudes 
of mind''? What would they be in effective cooperative 
thinking about a long problem? 

12. Rapeer makes the following statement: 

"We have yet to live up to the expectations of our nation's 
founders. Poverty, crime, political injustice, an enormous pre- 
ventable death-and-illness rate, industrial oppression and lack of 
vocational preparation, immorality, selfishness, greed, graft, po- 
litical indifference, lack of citizenship, inability of citizens to 
cooperate, to take the initiative, or to lead in public causes, 
insufficient and poorly used leisure, indifference to the higher 
esthetic, and intellectual activities which made Greece the pride 
of the ages — all these forms of serious maladjustment which mean 
widespread failure to realize any reasonable goal of life, are still 
with us, contrary to the sanguine expectations of our forefathers 
for this glorious new country.'' ^ 

Are the problems named short or long? What will they 
demand most, individual or cooperative thought? Resolved: 

That the schools must . 

Complete the statement. 

13. As a corporation is to efficiency in business so 

^Colvin. — The Learning Process, 318. 

^Rapeer. — Teaching Elementary School Subjects, 9. 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN SOLVING LONG PROBLEMS 199 

is cooperative thinking to efficiency in thinking. Do you 
agree? 

14, How has the George Junior Republic illustrated the 
value of training in cooperative thinking? 

15. Freeman^ enumerates the following requirements of 
correct scientific thinking: a. Suspension of judgment, b. Sys- 
tematic procedure, c. Freedom from prejudice, d. Adequate 
information, e. Familiarity with good models of reasoning. 
Resolved: That all of these can best be developed through co- 
operative thinking about long problems. Outline an argument 
for the affirmative or the negative. 

* Freeman. — How Children Learn, 226-9. 



XI 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN CRITICAL 

THINKING 

What is the real nature of criticism and what is its 
function in life? 

Criticism is often regarded as being merely an academic 
process found mainly in institutions of higher learning 
and carried on by so-called ^^critics.'^ Criticism is more 
than an academic process. It has its source and justifi- 
cation in the general struggle for existence and is an 
operation through which the process of selection is lifted 
to the plane of consciousness and becomes an act of in- 
tellectual analysis and judgment. 

Selection depends on two main conditions. The first 
one is that there must be an overproduction, a profusion 
of wealth of materials. The second one is that there 
must be a variety in the materials, so that those things 
which are most fit to survive will tend to crowd out those 
which are less fit. It is a process which operates in all 
spheres of life, in nature as well as in the activities of 
man. Wherever it appears, it is an evidence of vitality 
and abundance on the one hand and of growth and de- 
velopment on the other. Where this selective process 
does not appear or where it is resisted, the fact is evi- 
dence of poverty and of the absence of progress. 

200 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN CRITICAL THINKING 201 

If we bear in mind this fundamental and general selec- 
tive function of criticism, it becomes easy to discover 
its importance in the affairs of everyday life. The suc- 
cess of an individual in any vocation is clearly dependent 
on his ability to exercise critical selection; that is, to 
select the ^^better'^ and to discard that which is merely 
''good/' and to be ready and willing to abandon the ''bet- 
ter'' as soon as he discovers the "best." The develop- 
ment of any trade, vocation, industry, art, or branch of 
knowledge is directly dependent on the elimination of 
"good" things in favor of those which are "better." Ideas, 
methods, and appliances which have been of great service 
and which actually may be of much value are crowded 
out because other ideas, methods, or appliances are de- 
veloped which are recognized to have a higher value. 
The development of civilization generally can be esti- 
mated by the growth of the "scrapheap" of discarded 
"goods." Similarly, the backwardness, whether it be of 
a group or a nation, can be estimated by the slowness 
with which relatively good things are discarded in favor 
of those which are better. 

As civilization advances the selective process tends to 
become more and more intellectual in its nature. Blind 
"trial and error" methods give way to forethought, to 
the weighing of evidence, and to the comparing of values. 
This change does not diminish the importance or force 
of the process. Rather it enlarges its scope and makes 
possible progress at an increased speed. It is with this in- 
tellectual aspect of selection that teachers must be espe- 
cially concerned. 

What has been the place of critical thinking in our 



202 TEACHING TO THINK 

schools? During my experience I have never seen a 
recitation in which the primary aim was to develop in 
the pupils the ability to exercise intelligent criticism. To 
be sure, pupils have always indulged in considerable 
criticism; not only of their subjects and their books, but 
of the teachers and their methods, and even of the super- 
intendent and the whole school system. However, such 
criticism has not been regarded with favor. And this 
attitude on the part of teachers can be justified. Criti- 
cism by pupils is generally quite primitive. It may be 
mere faultfinding, and consequently does not deserve any 
credit. 

But why is it that the critical thinking of pupils, and 
of a large number of adults too, is so crude? According 
to the dictionary criticism is the "act or art of judging by 
some standard.'' Note that the dictionary calls it an 
"art.'' If the criticisms made by our pupils are crude, 
would it not be well for us to help them' to develop their 
endeavors into a real art? If they begin by mere fault- 
finding and continue practicing that until they are grown 
up, they will become just as expert grouches and fault- 
finders as some of the adults whom we know, and who 
make life a burden for their neighbors. 

At this point I must forestall an objection which is 
likely to arise in the minds of some. Is it really well to 
develop in children this critical attitude of mind? Would 
it not be better to allow them to grow up in childlike 
trustfulness, believing all things, hoping all things? This 
seems at first sight to be a reasonable objection. There 
are two answers to it. The first one is, that whatever the 
teacher may or may not do, every normal child will 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN CRITICAL THINKING 203 

sooner or later learn to distrust things in his environment, 
and his hopes will become mixed with fears. As a mat- 
ter of fact, most children are quite disillusioned before 
they enter school and usually come to believe in the 
teacher more thoroughly than they believe in anyone 
else. The other answer is, that schools do not exist for 
the purpose of keeping their pupils from changing; 
quite the contrary. The fundamental purpose of all edu- 
cation is to produce changes. The attitude of childlike 
simplicity, while it may have a certain charm when 
found in little children, is very far from being desirable 
in an adult. The real danger does not consist in the 
development of an intelligently critical attitude of mind, 
but rather in the lack of such development, the result 
of which may be that children become so disillusioned 
by their environment that they grow into adults who 
believe in no one and hope for nothing. 

It is sometimes claimed that the critical attitude of 
mind is destructive of the ability to act with promptness 
and efficiency. This claim has some truth in it. Imagine 
two auto drivers passing through a town on a highway. 
Let us suppose that one of them has formed the habit of 
carefully examining the signposts and reading the direc- 
tions before he proceeds, while the other one is a strong 
believer in immediate action and speed. The latter may 
be out of town sooner than the former, but the former 
will be more likely to be on the right road. There are 
situations in life in which promptness and speed of ac- 
tion is of more importance than accuracy or correctness, 
but they do not occur very frequently. As for me, I pre- 
fer a driver who critically examines the guideposts. How- 



204 TEACHING TO THINK 

ever, I do not want him to camp by a guidepost in a 
state of endless uncertainty, and I do not want him to 
come with a report that ^^I am inclined to believe that this 
probably may be the road which we might take accord- 
ing to what the directions seem to say/' 

One other idea calls for a few words. As there is no 
such thing as judgment in general so there is no such 
thing as criticism in general. If criticism is a judgment 
of values, it is necessarily a specific act in which the rela- 
tive merits of specific things, ideas, persons, institutions, 
or situations are compared. So then a school cannot 
develop criticism as a general power or ability but it can 
give its pupils skill in the critical evaluation of specific 
things. This leads us to the practical question, what 
can the school do to develop skill in critical thinking in 
its pupils? 

What are those specific things in which pupils should 
be trained to exercise criticism? Clearly, it must be in 
those problems which demand critical thinking in ordi- 
nary life. 

1. Most of us meet so many people that we cannot 
possibly be on intimate terms of friendship with them all. 
We must select our friends and co-workers. This selec- 
tion calls for a critical judgment regarding the desirable 
and undesirable qualities in individuals. Can a school do 
anything to develop in its pupils a reasonable eflSciency 
in the judging of men? The study of biography and 
history affords splendid opportunity for such develop- 
ment. A considerable portion of the time devoted to 
these subjects should be given to answering such ques- 
tions as: What made this man successful? Which of the 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN CRITICAL THINKING 205 

men studied was really the most important? What were 
the plus and minus traits in their characters? Are the 
prominent traits found in these men also found in other 
noted men? Are these traits operative to-day in making 
men famous? How do men acquire such traits? Can 
such traits be cultivated in school? What are the best 
methods for developing them? 

Every political campaign and election is an invitation 
to the teacher to introduce into his class work a number 
of discussions dealing with the proper selection of candi- 
dates for an office. Given a certain office, what qualifi- 
cations are needed in a candidate for that office? Do the 
candidates have these qualifications? How can we obtain 
reliable information about the various candidates so as 
to judge them impartially and truthfully? If people 
disagree in their estimation of two candidates, and if the 
pupils also disagree, what is the cause of the disagree- 
ment? Are they judging by different standards? If so, 
which is the best standard? 

If the pupils have received sufficient training in judg- 
ing historical characters, they should be able to discuss 
the merits of candidates for office without bias and with- 
out getting excited, provided the teacher works with 
them and guides the discussion by constantly insisting 
on facts that have real importance. Every exercise 
should be a cooperative one in which all the pupils of 
the group take an active part by asking questions, fur- 
nishing information, suggesting methods and means for 
obtaining further information, offering objections or call- 
ing attention to difficulties to be met, offering resolutions 
for expressing the consensus of opinion, or by insisting 



206 TEACHING TO THINK 

that the discussion must be kept free from emotional 
excitement. 

Can these things be done in school? They can with- 
out doubt, if the teacher has had the proper training for 
guiding the pupils rightly. The main difficulty is that so 
few teachers have had any training for this type of work. 
And they are not to blame for this lack of training. The 
fact is that comparatively few adults know anything about 
properly selecting a candidate for ofl&ce. They do not 
know enough even to ask important questions and to seek 
for reliable information. Campaign ^^literature/^ as it 
used to be written, would have been classed as fiction, if it 
had been admitted as literature at all. Much of it even 
to-day is so contradictory, as presented by the dif- 
ferent sides, that all of it cannot possibly be true. Ask 
any ordinary man on the morning of election day why 
he intends to vote for this or that candidate. Wouldn't 
almost any class of eighth grade children, under the guid- 
ance of a competent teacher, be able to give more satis- 
factory reasons for their choice? This is no reflection on 
the ordinary voter, either; for, bear in mind, he has never 
had any training in thinking eflBciently about the rela- 
tive merits of different candidates. The safety of the 
ballot demands that schools begin to take this matter 
seriously and actually do something about it. 

2. We hear so many things that we cannot possibly 
pay attention to them all. In other words, there is need 
of selection with respect to things that people say. Note 
that I did not say that people tell us lies. Most of what 
we hear is true enough. The main objection is that a 
large part of it is irrelevant or immaterial; and life is so 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN CRITICAL THINKING 207 

short that it is wrong to spend any time discussing unim- 
portant matters. Just wait until you catch your next 
"cold^' and try to follow all the advices given by all your 
good friends. Or, as a teacher, try to do all those things 
which well-meaning people, who are interested in your 
welfare, suggest. It cannot be done. Time will not per- 
mit. 

Almost every class recitation affords excellent opportu- 
nity for developing ability to judge the practical merits 
of what people say. Our mistake in the past has been 
that the teacher and not the pupil has received the 
chief benefit of these opportunities. Pupils have always 
passed some judgments more or less silently; such as, 
^^That was a bluff,'' ^^Good recitation; best he has made so 
far," "All balled up,'' "Didn't know what he was talk- 
ing about; had not studied the lesson," "Wish he could 
talk better," "Fooled the teacher that time." Such judg- 
ments have generally been regarded as too immature to 
deserve consideration, and if any pupil ventured to ex- 
press his opinion so that it could be heard, he was 
frowned upon as an undesirable citizen of the class. Now, 
is there any reason why recitations should be conducted 
as a hearing before a judge with the teacher taking the 
part of the judge? An inexperienced teacher no doubt 
receives a great deal of valuable practice by such pro- 
cedure, but is it fair to the pupils that the teacher get 
all the practice? 

Pupils can easily be taught to evaluate class recita- 
tions according to the formula used by lawyers, requir- 
ing that testimony shall be competent, relevant, and ma- 
terial; which by interpretation means, that a witness 



208 TEACHING TO THINK 

must know what he is talking about, that his testimony 
must relate to the case, and that it must be of suflBcient 
importance to make some difference. A recitation should 
be like a conference, and the contribution of every pupil 
should be subject to the judgment of the other members 
of the class. Pupils should learn to think and talk about 
a recitation without being personal. To say that a cer- 
tain recitation was irrelevant should be understood as 
casting no reflection on the individual who recited. When 
a report is given by a pupil, it will at times be convenient 
to have the other pupils write their estimates of the good 
and weak points in the report on slips of paper which 
should be handed to the pupil after the recitation. The 
teacher as a member of the group, may hand in his slip 
with the pupils. When the pupil has examined the criti- 
cisms which he has received, a conference with the teacher 
will be helpful. 

3. People invent so many plans, devise so many 
schemes, and promote so many organizations that we can- 
not possibly take an active interest in all of them. In 
fact, we must refuse to have anything to do with most of 
them in order to find some time to attend to our own 
business. If a school gives its pupils a fair training in 
initiative and in imaginative thinking, as suggested in 
Chapters VI and VII, there will be no lack of material 
for critical evaluation. Any task can be accomplished in 
a number of ways. Efficiency and success depend on a 
person's ability to exercise criticism and discover the best 
way. I remember when capital H was written with an 
initial circle followed by a series of curves and loops. 
Gradually it has been simplified into three straight lines. 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN CRITICAL THINKING 209 

two vertical and one horizontal. We may see the day 
when it will be written by making two vertical lines or 
one vertical and one horizontal. Life is constantly urg- 
ing us to '^cut out'' the nonessentials. It puts a high 
premium on those methods which effectually accomplish 
things in the least amount of time and with the least 
amount of energy and annoyance. 

Why should not every school carefully train its pupils 
to be good judges of methods of work? It can be done 
by requiring them to think critically about everything 
done in the school, from the writing of an H to the con- 
ducting of a final examination or the planning of the grad- 
uation exercises. Some people think that it would be 
objectionable to let pupils express their opinions about 
things that are done and the manner of doing them. 
They maintain that children's minds are immature and 
therefore their criticisms will be childish and worthless. 
All of which is granted, and all of which constitutes a very 
good reason for having such criticisms expressed in school, 
where they will do no harm and where they can, through 
suitable training, gradually be improved. Let me men- 
tion something which is really objectionable. It is to 
have grown people express childish criticisms about or- 
ganizations and institutions and methods of work, because 
they have never received the training which they should 
have had. 

There is nothing mysterious or miraculous in training 
children to think critically about methods of work, or 
about plans and projects, or institutions. Get the pupils 
into the habit of asking these simple questions: Is the 
thing produced what we want? Is it produced with the 



210 TEACHIJSTG TO THINK 

least amount of work, expense, annoyance, and time, and 
without sacrifice of principles or lowering of standards? 
If another method requires more work, time, or money, 
are the results obtained sufiicient to warrant the extra 
outlay? Suppose that the athletic team of a school goes 
to an adjoining town and wins a victory by allowing a 
pupil to play although he should have been barred. The 
question then is whether that is the kind of victory that 
the school really wants. What is the actual cost of such 
a victory? Is it worth the cost? 

If pupils are allowed and encouraged to think in this 
way, it is quite possible that some embarrassing ques- 
tions will be put to the teacher. Is the result that we 
are getting out of this subject really what we want? Is 
the method which we are using the best one? Such ques- 
tions are embarrassing, especially when we know within 
ourselves that our methods and results are not as good as 
they ought to be. But I also know something which is 
vastly more embarrassing for anyone who aspires to be- 
come an efiicient teacher, and that is to continue using 
poor methods and getting poor results because one is 
afraid to face honest criticism from the pupils, who are 
the sufferers on account of one's inefficiency. 

4. There are, according to estimate, about five million 
books in the world. This means that if a person read one 
new book every two weeks, or twenty-six in one year^ he 
would in fifty years be able to read only one book out of 
every three thousand eight hundred in the world's bookr 
case. There are in the United States alone more than 
twenty-two thousand periodicals of all classes, including 
daily papers. All of which means that the biggest 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN CRITICAL THINKING 211 

problem before a reader, who does not want to read him- 
self into dreamy stupidity, is that of selecting wisely 
what to read. Yet there are schools which continue the 
practice of requiring their pupils to read what the teacher 
sets before them, and which do little or nothing to de- 
velop in the pupils any skill in the selection of what to 
read, so that they will be able to read with discrimination 
after they have left school. 

What can be done to develop efl&ciency in reading 
through intelligent discrimination, not only with respect 
to what books to read but also in regard to the contents 
of the books which one does read? Consider first the 
various types of reading. There is reading for inspira- 
tion, for information, for enjoyment, and for pastime. 
There is reading for the purpose of memorizing passages, 
rules, or formulas. The important aim in any reading is 
to master the thought of the author. 

During the last five years supervised study has become 
a part of the regular program in many of the best schools. 
Such supervision may have many different aims and may 
take a large variety of forms. In ,so far as it attempts 
to aid the pupil to attain mastery in reading, it must be 
directed principally toward developing skill in critical 
thinking; for eflficiency in the mastery over the thoughts 
of others, as they are expressed in books, involves first 
of all ability to select. Why is one author to be preferred 
to another in the same field? What kind of book is it 
preferable to read ; one that presents a general survey of 
the main facts or one that gives a detailed account? 
What confidence can be placed in the presentation by 
a given author? What style of presentation conveys the 



212 TEACHING TO THINK 

thought most effectively and easily to the reader's mind? 
Should the book be read from cover to cover, or will it 
be more profitable to read only certain chapters or pov- 
tions? How can one determine which parts of a book to 
read? In actual reading, every paragraph may be pre- 
sumed to contain a central thought. How can the reader 
develop skill in finding and retaining that thought with- 
out burdening his mind with the details, which are given 
merely for the sake of elucidating the main idea? These 
and similar questions the supervisor of book study must 
seek to answer, not merely in words, but through a train- 
ing which will result in the forming of proper habits by 
the pupils. 

The following types of exercises for pupils are men- 
tioned to suggest some specific things that can be done 
to develop critical mastery in reading: 

(1) Paraphrase difficult sentences or paragraphs into 
simple direct statements. An inspector put the follow- 
ing question to a class in geography: ^'If you were to dig 
a hole thousands and thousands of feet deep, would it 
be cooler near the bottom or near the top, and why?'' 
Not a child answered. Finally the teacher said that she 
was sure they knew the answer and taking the book she 
asked, ^^In what state is the center of the earth?" In a 
chorus came the reply, ^The center of the earth is in a 
state of igneous fusion." 

(2) Illustrate abstract ideas by concrete examples. 

(3) Condense long discussions into brief summaries. 

(4) Make ideas stand out clearly by stating the nega- 
tive of positive propositions and vice versa. 

(5) By using a simple scheme of symbols indicate in 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN CRITICAL THINKING 213 

the margin the relative importance of the ideas presented. 

(6) Write topic sentences for the important para- 
graphs. 

(7) Write marginal summaries of important para- 
graphs. 

(8) Write chapter or topic summaries. 

(9) Reduce arguments to briefs. 

(10) Prepare outlines and diagrams for conveying the 
gist of the ideas presented in an article or in a book. Later 
give an oral or written review of the article or book se- 
lected based on the outline. 

(11) By using the table of contents, and after a pre- 
liminary survey of a book, prepare a set of problems or 
questions to be used as a guide in the reading. 

(12) Try to anticipate the answers to be found. 

(13) Make a list of the most valuable ideas contained 
in a book. 

(14) Demonstrate the value of these ideas by show- 
ing what can be done with them. 

The type of skill in critical thinking to be developed 
will naturally depend upon the subject studied. Pen- 
manship calls for criticism of handwriting and of methods 
of work. Arithmetic demands critical interpretation of 
problems and evaluation of methods of work and of solu- 
tions. Geography gives opportunity for comparison of 
living conditions in different localities, for evaluation of 
different vocations, and for critical estimation of the 
relative contributions to humanity of the various races or 
peoples. History calls for verification of statements, com- 
parisons of persons and events, and interpretation of past 
movements as related to present-day problems. Litera- 



214 TEACHING TO THINK 

ture gives opportunity for criticism of form as well as of 
thought. Other things could be mentioned for each sub- 
ject, and the list of subjects might be continued to include 
all the work of the school. 

5. Ability to exercise self-criticism is not the least of 
our needs. The injunction to every man "not to think 
of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to 
think soberly/' calls for practice and training. 

What can the school do to develop self-criticism in 
its pupils? There is but one thing to suggest. Give the 
pupils practice in self-criticism. Suppose a pupil has 
given an oral report. Why not let him be the first one 
to offer a criticism of that report? And why not give 
him credit for his self-criticism as well as for the report? 
Suppose a pupil has broken a rule or otherwise caused 
some difficulty. Why not let him be the first one to pass 
judgment on the act and suggest what should be done? 
Don't we adults frequently wish that people would wait 
a little before they "butt in" on us, and that they would 
give us time to straighten out our affairs? Why not give 
pupils a chance to straighten out their affairs? Why 
not demand it of them? Why shall we continue to do for 
our pupils those things which it would give them a splen- 
did training, to do for themselves? The only method for 
avoiding constant criticism by others is to become an 
expert in self-criticism. Where can such training be ob- 
tained more easily than in school? But one needs to 
bear in mind that criticism is not the same as faultfind- 
ing. A pupil should be expected to note and evaluate 
the good points as well as the defects in what he does. 
He is to be trained to think soberly and truly about him- 



DEVELOPMENT OF SKILL IN CRITICAL THINKING 215 

self, and to regard as a weakness any tendency to allow 
his judgment to be influenced by purely personal feeling. 
When all things have been considered, critical think- 
ing is found to make three important demands. It insists 
on clearness. The critical thinker is always asking such 
questions as: Just what did we see? Just what were the 
sounds we heard? What were the exact words used? 
What did he really mean to say? What did he do? What 
did he mean to do? Critical thinking makes a persistent 
demand for all the actual facts in the case. It has no 
patience with merely alleged facts. It rebels against all 
reports which are ^'made to order'^ and ^^fixed'' to suit the 
supposed needs of the hearer. Finally, critical thinking 
is effective thinking; it demands results. It is opposed 
to speculations which lead nowhere. It objects to every- 
thing that is irrelevant and immaterial. To some people 
critical thinking has meant merely the type of thinking 
that demands clearness and truth. It means more than 
that. It insists that the particular truth which we hold 
shall be one that has value in reaching a conclusion. 

It has been estimated that ^^fifteen minutes a day or 
a half hour three days a week devoted to a particular 
study will make one a master in that field in a dozen 
years.'' ^ That evidently implies a different type of read- 
* ing than most of us are doing. It means that we cannot 
continue to read ^^a little of everything,'' or to read any- 
thing that we may happen to pick up. It demands concen- 
tration, which is but another word for elimination of every- 
thing that is irrelevant and immaterial. Then why not 
yield to the demand and become a master in some field? 

^Griggs. — The Use of the Margin. 



216 TEACHING TO THINK 

THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. Resolved: That critical thinking is not an essential re- 
quirement for real success in the ordinary vocations. Prepare 
a brief for the side that you prefer. 

2. What is the weakness in the thinking of persons who 
become excessively cautious and unable to act? 

3. Prepare five debate questions based on comparisons of 
historical characters and suitable for pupils in the eighth 
grade. 

4. Prepare five questions for debate based on comparisons 
of historical characters and suitable for pupils in the twelfth 
grade. 

5. Suppose the pupils in a certain school become unpleas- 
antly excited in their discussion of political candidates, what 
course would you advise? Would such excitement show the 
need of stopping discussions or of introducing more discus- 
sions? 

6. Prepare a simple blank to be used by pupils in writing 
their criticisms of oral recitations and reports. Make the 
blank so that it will call for a statement of the good points as 
well as the defects. Provide a space for objections by the 
pupil receiving the criticisms. 

7. Prepare a simple blank for criticisms of their composi- 
tions by the pupils. 

8. Prepare a blank for getting the opinions of the pupils 
about the parts of a textbook or of a course which had inter- 
ested and benefited them the most, seemed the most difficult, 
etc. Call for the information which you think a teacher 
should be interested in securing after teaching a given course. 
Be careful to make the blank as impersonal as possible. 

9. Keep a record of all your reading for one week. What 
do you conclude as to the quality of your selections? 

10. How can pupils use school marks as a basis for self- 
criticism? 

11. Is excessive self -depreciation a symptom of lack of 
proper self-criticism? 

12. Prepare a simple blank to be used by pupils for co- 
operative criticism of notebooks. 



XII 

SIZE OF VOCABULARY AS A MEASURE OF 
THINKING ABILITY 

What is the relationship, if any, between a person's 
ability as a thinker and his mastery of a vocabulary? Is 
there a correlation such that those individuals who are 
the best thinkers also know and use the largest number 
of words to express their thoughts? Is the converse also 
true, that the size of one's vocabulary is indicative of 
his thought efficiency? Or, perhaps it is true, as many 
old sayings indicate, that there is a certain opposition 
between the number of words used and the amount of 
wisdom which they contain. Perhaps silence or the few- 
ness of words used is indicative of depth of thought so 
that ^'Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is considered 
wise." ^ Perhaps it is true that ''Empty barrels rattle 
the most." 

Possibly none of the suppositions which have been 
mentioned express the truth. Perhaps there is no rela- 
tionship between the number and importance of the 
thoughts which an individual has and the number or size 
of the words which he uses to express them. Perhaps 
some thoughtful individuals use few words while others 
use many, and perhaps the same is true of thoughtless 
people. 

'Proverbs, 17:28. 

217 



218 



TEACHING TO THINK 



In order to find an approach to our problem, it will be 
necessary to digress for a few moments to recall some of 
our general experiences which seem to have a bearing on 
the question at hand. 

The railroad maps of two of the states in the Union 
look somewhat like the diagrams in Figure 15. Would it 
be safe on the basis of these maps to conclude anything 
as to the amount of commerce in these two states? 

Suppose we count the number of miles of good roads 
in two counties of equal size and find that one county 
has ten times as many miles of such roads as the other; 
what could we reasonably conclude as to the activities of 
the people in these two counties? 

Is it generally true that the commercial activity of a 
city, county, state, or country is directly proportional to 
the number of roads, railway lines, and other means of 
communication it may have? 

A ^ B 





Fig. 15. 



Suppose we should find two stores dealing in the same 
kind of goods, but one of them having four times as 
much stock on its shelves as the other ; could we conclude 
anything about the amount of business done in the two 



VOCABULARY AS A MEASURE OF THINKING ABILITY 219 

establishments? Perhaps not. But if we were to select 
one hundred stores that have only a small stock of goods 
and another hundred that carry a large stock, could we 
not then conclude that, as a rule, those stores which carry 
the large stock are doing the more prosperous business? 

Suppose we were to make a comparison of various 
colleges. It would be true, would it not, that generally 
and in the long run those colleges which have the largest 
number of buildings and the best equipment and which 
offer the largest number of courses are also doing the 
most vigorous work and enjoying the most prosperity 
intellectually? If a small college was found to be doing 
excellent work or if a large college was found to be lacking 
in prosperity, we should recognize it as an exception to 
the general rule. 

If two debating teams v/ere to show us the cards of 
notes which they had prepared for a debate and if one of 
the teams had twice as many notes as the other, we should 
predict, that, other things being equal, the team with the 
larger number of cards will win. If the other team should 
win, we should feel that an explanation was necessary. 

How is it that such apparently external aspects can be 
used as measures of the inward conditions of the activities 
or situations mentioned? The roads do not produce the 
commerce of a city or state, the goods on the shelves do 
not make the business prosper, the buildings and equip- 
ment or the number of courses announced in a school 
catalog do not teach, the cards do not argue. If the 
things which we have mentioned are not to be regarded 
as the causes of the prosperity in each case, they may, 
however, be the effects of such prosperity, or they may 



220 TEACHING TO THINK 

be part cause and part effect. If there is much commerce 
in a city or state, the roads will be built, and the roads 
will in turn make possible an enlarged commercial pros- 
perity. If a store finds a vigorous demand for its goods 
and if it has the right kind of management, it will in- 
crease its stock so as to meet the demand. If people 
want an education and if a school satisfies such a want, 
it will prosper in the number of students, buildings, equip- 
ment, and variety of courses. If a debating team has 
the ability and will to win, they will prepare themselves 
thoroughly for the debate and as a result have more cards 
than the other team. In other words, we have been 
taking the effects or the concomitants of various activi- 
ties rather than the activities themselves as indications 
of their prosperity. 

What is the application of this digression to the prob- 
lem with which we started? Thinking is an inward ac- 
tivity. Its stock in trade consists of ideas, and these 
ideas are represented more or less accurately by words. 
Given two men H and L. If H has a vocabulary of 60,000 
words while L has a vocabulary of only 40,000 words, we 
conclude that, other things being equal, H is doing more 
thinking than L. This does not mean that the words or 
ideas produce thoughts any more than that the goods on 
the shelves produce trade. It does mean, however, that 
generally and in the long run those individuals who do the 
most varied and vigorous thinking are compelled to seek 
most diligently for information, and consequently become 
masters of the largest number of ideas. Even if ideas 
were but the bubbles produced by the process of think- 
ing, like the bubbles in a coffee pot their number may 



VOCABULARY AS A MEASURE OF THINKING ABILITY 221 

be a very good measure of the activity within. But ideas 
are more than effects of thinking. They are both effects 
and causes. When an individual is met by an experience 
which compels him to think^ his thinking compels him to 
search for ideas. The ideas in turn enable him to think 
more. 

At this point we must take note of an objection which 
it is entirely proper to raise. Even if the size of a person's 
vocabulary may be indicative in a general way of the 
amount or extent of his thinking, it may not reveal any- 
thing about the quality of his thoughts unless there 
should happen to be a positive correlation between the 
number and the quality of the thoughts which people 
have, so that those who have the greatest number of 
thoughts also have the best ones. 

Experiments bearing on this problem can easily be ar- 
ranged. If a number of persons are asked to state as 
many arguments as they can for or against a certain 
proposition, there will be very marked individual differ- 
ences in the number of arguments that will be stated. 
In one experiment, some of the individuals participating 
gave only three arguments while others gave twelve. 
When the arguments were analysed, it was found that 
those persons who had given the largest number had also 
given the best ones. 

^^Other things being equal, the man with the best stock 
of ideas can reason the best. His life will be fuller and 
more complete and he will be able to perceive relations 
and formulate laws impossible for the man whose native re- 
tentiveness is poor.'^ ^ 

^ Lyon. — Memory and the Learning Process, 11. 



222 TEACHING TO THINK 

The size of a person's vocabulary has come to be ac- 
cepted as a very reliable indication of his general intelli- 
gence. According to Terman 

^The vocabulary test has a far higher value than any other 
single test of the scale. Used with children of English-speak- 
ing parents (with children whose home language is not 
English it is of course unreliable), it probably has a higher 
value than any three other tests in the scale. Our statistics 
show that in a large majority of cases the vocabulary test 
alone will give us an intelligence quotient within ten per cent 
of that secured by the entire scale. Out of hundreds of 
English-speaking children we have not found one testing sig- 
nificantly above age who has a significantly low vocabulary; 
and correspondingly, those who test much below age never 
have a high vocabulary." ^ 

The bearing of this statement on our problem becomes 
manifest when we call to mind that general intelli- 
gence means the speed and success with which an indi- 
vidual adapts himself to a relatively novel situation; in 
other words, it means ability to think. 

How can a person's vocabulary be measured? The 
dictionary test is, on the whole, the most satisfactory for 
measuring one's comprehension vocabulary. This test 
consists in selecting at random from the dictionary a 
number of words, usually one hundred, finding out the 
percentage of these words which one knows and multi- 
plying this percentage by the total number of words in 
the dictionary. Let us illustrate by a concrete example. 
Webster's New International Dictionary (1910 edition) 
contains 2373 pages. If we take the first word on every 
twenty-third page we shall get a list of one hundred 
words which will constitute a fair sampling of all the 

* Terman. — The Measurement of Intelligence^ 230. 



VOCABULARY AS A MEASURE OF THINKING ABILITY 223 

words in the book, not counting the words in the foot- 
notes or in the appendix. Let us suppose that we know 
seventy out of the one hundred words. By an actual 
count of one hundred and seventy-nine columns the 
average number of words per column in the dictionary is 
14.63. This means that the total number of words de- 
fined, not counting those in the footnotes or in the ap- 
pendix, is about 104,000. If we know seventy per cent of 
these words, we have a comprehension vocabulary of 
72,800 words. 

The method just described was used by Starch in the 
preparation of his English Vocabulary Test. He selected 
two lists, each containing one hundred words. The ap- 
pended scores ^ represent the approximate percentage of 
words comprehended by an average individual for each 
grade of schooling from the fourth to the senior year in 
the university. 



Elementary 


High School 


University 


Grades 4 5 6 7 8 


I II III IV 


F. So. Jr. Sr. 


Scores 30 33 36 39 42 


45 47.5 50 53 


56 58.5 61 63 



In order to secure an accurate measurement, one should 
test himself by two or three lists and take the average 
score obtained. 

In order to get a complete measurement of one's com- 
prehension vocabulary, the dictionary test, as we have 
described H, must be supplemented by various other 
tests, for a person is really acquainted with many more 
words than this test will indicate. By turning to the 
^'Pronouncing Gazetteer'' in the '^Appendix" of the New 

* Starch. — Educational Measurements, 38. 



224 TEACHING TO THINK 

International Dictionary, a person will find that he knows 
a considerable percentage of the 21,000 terms there listed. 
The same thing will be true regarding the 11,000 names 
listed in the ^'pronouncing Biographical Dictionary,'' also 
in the "Appendix." Then there are about 100,000 words 
in the footnotes, of which a small percentage will be 
recognized. By making these corrections it will be found 
that a person who knows about seventy per cent of the 
words in the dictionary test proper, which means a vo- 
cabulary of 72,800 words, really has a total comprehension 
vocabulary of about 80,000 words. And this does not 
include any account of the 26,000 words in black type 
mentioned in the definitions themselves, or of the differ- 
ent meanings listed under each word, which, if counted, 
will be found to average more than twice as many mean- 
ings as there are words. 

If the dictionary test is made on the basis of the 
New Standard Dictionary, it will be found that the total 
number of words recognized is somewhat larger than indi- 
cated by the test as based on the New International, even 
when such a test is corrected by means of the "Appendix" 
and the footnotes. The New Standard Dictionary con- 
tains about 185,000 words not counting the variants; 
that is, words in black-faced type occurring in the defini- 
tions. A person who knows about seventy per cent of 
the regular words in the New International, and conse- 
quently has a comprehension vocabulary of about 80,000 
words, will know about fifty per cent of the words in the 
New Standard, which would mean that he has a vocabu- 
lary of about 92,500 words by that measure. 

A number of investigations have been made in regard 



VOCABULARY AS A MEASURE OF THINKING ABILITY 225 

to the vocabularies of school children. Kirkpatrick ^ used 
a list selected from the Webster's Academic Dictionary, 
which contains about 28,000 words. On this basis he 
found the recognition vocabulary of children in each 
grade to be as follows : 

Grade Vocabulary Grade Vocabulary 



2 


4,480 


High School I 


15,640 


3 


6,620 


II 


16,020 


4 


7,020 


III 


17,600 


5 


7,860 


IV 


18,720 


6 


8,700 


Normal School 


19,000 


7 


10,660 


College 


20,120 


S 


12,000 






9 


13,400 







In a later investigation,^ using the same test in the 
Speyer School of Teachers' College, Columbia University, 
it was found that the vocabularies were considerably 
higher as shown in the following: 



Grade 


Vocabulary 


Grade 


Vocabulary 


4 


10,886 


7 


17,052 


5 


13,216 


8 


18,704 


6 


17,038 







The larger vocabularies of the pupils in the Speyer 
School are accounted for, as the investigator thinks, by 
the fact that the curriculum of this school is more vitally 
related to everyday life and calls for more initiative on 
the part of the pupils than is the case in the average 
school. 

Both of these investigations show clearly enough the 

^ Kirkpatrick.— "A Vocabulary Test," Popular Science Monthly; 
LXX, 157-164, 1907. 

^ Bonser. — "Vocabulary Tests as Measures of School Efficiency," 
School and Society, November, 1915. 



226 TEACHING TO THINK 

gradual increase of the vocabulary of school children with 
their progress through the grades, or, in other words, with 
their growth in intelligence. As measures of the total 
recognition vocabulary of the pupils, these investigations 
are wholly misleading, because the test was based upon 
a dictionary which contains a very limited number of 
words. As shown by the Starch standards, children have 
recognition vocabularies that are three to five times as 
large as those indicated by Kirkpatrick. 

An interesting type of vocabulary test is reported by 
Gerlach.^ He used one thousand words selected from 
the Standard Dictionary. For each word four definitions 
are given; one correct, the others wrong. The test con- 
sists in placing a check mark opposite the correct defini- 
tion for each word. The results are about forty per cent 
higher than those given by Starch. The limitation of 
this set of words or any similar set is that the test can- 
not be repeated with the same pupils without finally 
vitiating the results. The dictionary test can be repeated 
as often as one may wish it, by making new series of 
words. This makes it possible to verify a test and to 
take periodic tests, in order to ascertain the actual growth 
of vocabulary in the same individual or group of indi- 
viduals. 

As it is possible to measure, with a fair degree of ac- 
curacy, the general recognition vocabulary of an indi- 
vidual, so is it also possible to measure his recognition 
vocabulary in a specific field of thought. To illustrate. 
The index of the ordinary textbook in United States his- 
tory for the upper grades contains from 1300 to 1900 

^Gerlach. — Vocabulary Studies, Colorado College. 



VOCABULARY AS A MEASURE OF THINKING ABILITY 227 

items. If one hundred of these were selected at random, 
and if the individual to be tested showed a familiarity 
with forty per cent of the words or items so selected, it 
would be safe to conclude that he would show a similar 
familiarity with the items in the entire index. If another 
person showed that he knew sixty per cent of the words 
or items, we would conclude that he could think more 
efficiently about the problems of United States history 
than the individual who had the lower score. 

A similar procedure can be used for measuring a per- 
son's recognition vocabulary in other subjects. A com- 
plete, well-selected index is a very convenient tool for 
measuring familiarity with a subject. 

The active vocabulary, or number of words which an 
individual actually can and does use in his speech or 
writing, is evidently very much smaller than his com- 
prehension vocabulary. It would be very desirable to 
have tests by which the size of a person's active vocabu- 
lary could be measured; but no such tests are available, 
and it would be a very tedious and laborious task to 
undertake any such measurement. It is possible, how- 
ever, to arrange tests by which the number of words 
under command by one individual or group can be com- 
pared with that of other individuals or groups. To illus- 
trate. Take a book of synonyms. Select a list of words 
which have at least four synonyms each, being careful 
to avoid words that overlap in meaning. Put these words 
in sentences so constructed that the synonyms can be 
used in place of the test words without destroying the 
meaning or the form of the sentences. The test consists 
in taking such a list of sentences and writing after each 



228 TEACHING TO THINK 

sentence as many synonyms as one can for the test word, 
which is indicated by italics. A sample of such a test 
with tentative scores is given in the Appendix of this 
book. 

Similar tests can be arranged calling for antonyms. 
Other tests may call for words expressive of sounds, 
colors, smells, tastes, touch, temperature, and other 
groups of qualities or characteristics. y 

Is it worth while for a teacher to take the trouble of 
measuring the vocabularies of the pupils? 

First, let me say that it need take very little work on 
the part of the teacher to give the tests which have been 
described. It takes only a few minutes to select a list of 
test words. One of the older pupils can easily do it under 
the direction of the teacher. By using carbon paper and 
thin writing paper, several copies of the test can be made 
with one writing. If there is sufficient space the test can 
be placed on the blackboard. When a test has been taken, 
the checking can be done by having the pupils exchange 
papers and mark them under the teacher's supervision, 
or else by letting a committee of the older pupils mark 
all the papers. The figuring and tabulating of results 
will form a practical exercise for the class in arithmetic. 

Now let us consider briefly some of the advantages 
which a school may derive from taking such tests. 

^Taking stock'' is as necessary in school work as in 
other activities or occupations, if one is to know whether 
the work is prospering or not, and it should be regarded 
as a part of the regular duties of all teachers and superin- 
tendents. The board of directors of a school should from 
time to time call upon the teacher, who is the general 



VOCABULARY AS A MEASURE OF THINKING ABILITY 229 

manager of the business of their corporation, to give a 
statement showing the conditions of the business. Per- 
haps it would be well, too, if the reemployment of the 
teacher and his chances for a raise of salary were more 
dependent upon the amount of actual profit which his 
management and teaching could show. It would be a 
tremendously stimulating experience for most of us; and 
if it were sprung on us without previous warning, we 
should probably become very much confused. There are 
few teachers who can give a ready statement of facts 
about the results of their work. In the case of a large 
number of us, the statements would consist mainly of ex- 
pressions of faith and hope with a silent prayer for char- 
ity. However, if definite statements of results were to be 
demanded, I have no doubt that we should quite readily 
adjust ourselves to the new demands. Nor have I any 
doubt that we should think more highly of our profession 
from so doing. 

By the use of standardized tests and measurements it 
is now entirely feasible for a teacher to measure the 
attainments of the pupils at the beginning and at the 
end of a term^s work, and to tell definitely and accurately 
just what progress has been made in the various school 
subjects. Suppose that by the use of vocabulary tests 
a teacher could also tell how many ideas the pupils are 
familiar with at the beginning and at the end of the 
term. Suppose further that he could state quite defi- 
nitely the number of ideas that had been acquired in the 
different fields of thought. He would then be able to 
render a very definite account of his work. If a taxpayer 
should want to know just what returns were obtained for 



230 TEACHING TO THINK 

the money spent in the support of the school, he would 
receive a very specific answer. 

The vocabulary test is valuable in showing the indi- 
vidual differences between the pupils in the school. When 
applied to college students, for example, it shows that 
some have an acquaintance with 30,000 words more than 
others in the same class. If a certain pupil appears to 
have an unusually small vocabulary, it at once raises 
questions as to what the cause of such a deficiency may 
be and stimulates the teacher to investigate and to seek 
for remedies. In other words, such tests reveal practical 
teaching problems and stimulate initiative. The result 
is growth and improvement in the teacher as well as in 
the school. 

The vocabulary tests will stimulate interest on the 
part of the pupils. Watch any game or activity in which 
there is manifested a lively interest. What is the center 
of the interest? The score. How much interest would 
there be in running, jumping, throwing, or shooting if 
no scores were kept? Suppose, now, that five pupils in 
the seventh grade start out in September with the fol- 
lowing vocabularies: A 40,000; B 39,000; C 38,500; 
D 38,000, and E 37,500. Suppose they are told that they 
will be tested again in January and in May. The game 
consists in trying to gain the largest number of new ideas 
so as to be the master of the largest vocubulary. If D 
should gain 3,000 while A gained only 2,000, D would 
win over A. What would be the result of such competi- 
tion? There would develop a strong demand for informa- 
tion. Ideas would go above par in value. The pupils 



VOCABULARY AS A MEASURE OF THINKING ABILITY 231 

would be asking questions at home and in school, jotting 
down information, making drawings and diagrams, in 
short, storing up general information. It would put a 
premium on the correct understanding of words, for 
guess work is not to count in the tests. Some pupils 
might invent schemes for keeping accounts of the ideas 
which they acquire. The plan bristles with possibilities. 
The value of the vocabulary test for the teacher as a 
measure of his own intellectual growth is well worth con- 
sidering. How interesting it would be to have some 
record of the expansion of one's thought life from year 
to year. Suppose the diagrams in Figure 16 were the rep- 
resentations for a period of ten years of the Recognition 
Vocabularies of four individuals. The first one shows 
a steady mental growth. The second indicates a period 
of dormant mental life followed by a very satisfactory- 
growth. The third presents a record of interrupted 
growth. The fourth shows a period of growth followed 
by stagnation and this means ^^Beware, the receiver will 
get you!'' 





1 

Suppose a person could hold an "Annual Meeting" to 
consider the status of his thought business. If the year 
had been a prosperous one, a part of his annual statement 
might look like this: 



232 TEACHING TO THINK 

DEPARTMENT OF STOCK OF IDEAS 

Stock on hand at beginning of year 65,000 ideas 

Received by development of department of his- 
tory 1,000 " 

Received by cultivating literature 500 " 

Received fronq^ miscellaneous sources 1,500 " 

Stock on hand at end of year 68,000 ** 

Recommended to open a department in science. 

How can a large vocabulary be acquired? Recall for 
a moment our digression at the beginning of this discus- 
sion. The roads, the stock of goods on the shelves, the 
buildings^ equipment, and courses of study, the number of 
arguments listed by the debating teams, do not by 
themselves constitute the goals to be attained. They are 
means which have been soiight or developed in order to 
accomplish other and specific purposes. It would be 
foolish to develop them for their own sakes. Ideas are 
tools by which thinking is accomplished. Information 
grows best when it is sought in order to meet the real 
problems of life. The best rule, therefore, to be followed 
in securing a larger stock of information and a larger 
vocabulary is this: Face difficulties bravely; they are the 
opportunities for thought; and thought is the oppor- 
tunity for getting real information. 

THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. How large a recognition vocabulary do you have accord- 
ing to the Starch Test? Verify it by other tests based on the 
use of the New International Dictionary. 

2. Test your pupils by the Starch Test, letting them write 
a phrase or short statement in explanation of each word that 
they know. Have them exchange papers and check the mis- 
takes by using the dictionary. Then let them figure the re- 



VOCABULARY AS A MEASURE OF THINKING ABILITY 233 

suits. If the pupils verify the first result by taking other 
tests, what valuable attitude of mind may be cultivated? If 
some of the pupils in defining the words have been guessing 
wildly instead of stating what they knew, would it be worth 
while to follow the test with a general discussion about the 
meanings of the words? 

3. Take a textbook in some subject that is new to you and 
glance through the index. Does it really measure your lack 
of acquaintance with the subject? 

4. Think of some plan for a dictionary drill. 

5. How can catalogs be used for enlarging a person's stock 
of ideas and words? What kinds of catalogs seem the best 
for this purpose? Could they be used in school? 

6. All ideas are not equally important for yourself or for 
your pupils. What makes any particular idea important for 
yourself? Would you be willing to have the same rule apply 
in the case of the pupils? 

7. Professor Dewey says that the maxim, 'Teach things 
before words,'' would, if taken literally, tend to destroy educa- 
tion. What do you think he means by that? 

8. Which do you think, from your own experience, are the 
more valuable for the enrichment of one's stock of ideas and 
vocabulary, the language studies or the sciences? Why? 

9. How can a teacher promote the discrimination of mean- 
ings of words? Do you recommend the memorizing of defini- 
tions? Why? 

10. As you think of the dictionary work ordinarily done in 
schools, what do you consider its chief values and defects? 

11. One author has this to say about nature study: — 
'There must always be a question to be settled if contact 

with nature is to be worth while. . . . 'How can we set up in- 
struments so as to telegraph to the seventh grade room?' 
'How does the ice-cream freezer work?' 'Where do dragon- 
flies come from?' — ^these and similar problems set the pupils 
to observing because they need the facts in their thinking. 
Just ambling about in the out-of-doors is about as profitable 
as studying literature out of the dictionary; we go to the 
latter to find out something and then it functions." ^ 

^ Downing, in the chapter on ''Nature Study," in Teaching Elementary 
School Subjects. (Edited by Louis W. Rapeer.) 



234 TEACHING TO THINK 

Reduce this statement to a rule for increasing one's stock 
of ideas. 

12. What are the merits and limitations of examinations 
or tests made up of a series of words after which the pupils 
are to write whatever those words call to their minds? 

13. How can a teacher who tries to enlarge the stock of 
ideas and the vocabulary of his pupils prevent the danger of 
juggling with words that have no real meaning in the experi- 
ence of the pupils? 

14. Devise a plan for cooperative work to enlarge and 
improve the stock of ideas of your pupils. 

15. Resolved: That school work as ordinarily done tends 
too much to produce the accumulation of miscellaneous ideas, 
which are regarded as ends rather than as means or tools for 
thought. Shall this resolution be adopted? 

16. Resolved: That the salaries of teachers should depend 
upon the amount of actual results which they can show from 
their work. Discuss this resolution. 

17. Resolved: That the quality of ideas and their relative 
importance is of more consequence than their number and 
that, as a consequence, all results from vocabulary tests 
should be accepted with caution. Shall this resolution be 
adopted as stated? 



XIII 

MENTAL ALERTNESS AS A MEASURE OF 
EFFICIENCY IN THINKING 

Vocabulary tests are undoubtedly valuable for dis- 
closing the number of ideas that individuals have and 
thereby indicating their ability to think. Such tests, 
however, have some important limitations and should, 
consequently, always be supplemented by other types of 
measurement. The present discussion will deal with one 
or two of these. 

Let us approach our problem by recalling a few com- 
mon experiences. 

We have all seen establishments in which there was an 
abundance of stock on hand, but in which the goods were 
so poorly arranged as to be inaccessible when wanted or 
were of unsatisfactory quality. 

We have visited two stores that have carried practi- 
cally the same kind and amount of goods and have found 
that it took twice as much time to complete a transac- 
tion in one store as it did in the other. 

We have observed that it takes some men a long time 
to decide matters of detail or to dictate an ordinary letter, 
while other men work very expeditiously. 

We have listened to speakers who required a whole 
hour in order to present a proposition and to impress it 

235 



236 TEACHING TO THINK 

upon their hearers. We have listened to others who 
could accomplish the same thing in twenty minutes. 

We have seen teachers assign a lesson so well in ten 
minutes that every pupil became interested in the topic 
to be studied, knew exactly what he was to do, where 
to find the needed materials, and how to proceed ; and we 
have seen other teachers use an entire recitation period to 
make a similar assignment. 

Perhaps we can now agree upon a general proposition 
or rule as a summary of our experiences. Other things, 
such^s amount of effort and quality of work, being equal, 
efficiency in any case is directly proportional to the speed 
with which transactions or operations are completed. If 
this proposition is true then it must follow that the 
mental speed of an individual is indicative of his ability 
to think. 

At this point someone will no doubt remark that there 
are some good sayings; such as, ''Slow but sure'^ and 
''Haste makes waste,'' which do not agree with the propo- 
sition just stated. Also there is the fable about the 
hare and the tortoise. 

To which may be replied it wasn't the speed of the hare 
that caused him to lose, nor did the tortoise win because 
of his slowness. The hare forgot to attend to the busi- 
ness at hand, or rather at foot. You will please note that 
our rule did not say that efficiency is proportional to the 
speed with which work foreign to the business at hand 
is completed. 

Speed is quite a different thing from hurry. Speed is 
attained through self-control, calmness, and skill. It 
implies a clear conception of the objective to be attained, 



MENTAL ALERTNESS IN THINKING 237 

knowledge of the best ways and means to be used, and 
the avoidance of everything that is irrelevant or imma- 
terial. Hurry means excitement, running to and fro, 
and lack of skill. It means confusion of aims, poor selec- 
tion of methods and means, and the doing of much un- 
necessary work. Speed is a synonym for mastery, for 
efficiency. Hurry is a synonym for confusion and in- 
efficiency. 

Slowness is a characteristic mark of feeble-minde^ness. 
This is clearly brought out in the following statement 
by Holmes: 

'Trobably the best way to come at the peculiarities of the 
feeble mentaUty is to point out the first and greatest defect. 
It is slovmess. . . . Therefore, the mental growth of a perma- 
nently retarded person has been likened to that of a normal 
child except that the growth does not proceed so rapidly and 
does not proceed so jarJ^ ^ 

The term laggards, which has been applied to pupils 
who fail of normal promotion in school, is significant of 
the general recognition that a certain amount of speed 
is necessary for mental efficiency. 

One of the maxims for efficient learning is that a person 
shall work with some speed. Lyon ^ summarizes the 
results obtained by various investigators, who experi- 
mented to discover the relationship between speed of 
learning and retentiveness, in the following words : 

"They have found, in the main, and other things being 
equal, the individuals who learn the quickest to remember the 
longest, i.e., to be the best retainers." His own experiments 

* Holmes. — Backward Children, 182-3. 

^Lyon. — Memory and the Learning Process, 96, 152. 



238 TEACHING TO THINK 

led him to the following similar conclusion: '^As to the rela- 
tion of quickness of learning to retentiveness, the most gen- 
eral statement which can be made is that those who learn 
quickly remember longest if the material is logical in char- 
acter." 

A year ago I gave a study exercise to two sections of 

college students. The work consisted in finding, as 

quickly as possible, the answers to ten questions on the 

contents of a certain pamphlet. Each question called 

for a definite brief answer, and only the correct answers 

were counted in the score. A time record was kept for 

each student. The results which are relevant to our 

present inquiry were as follows: 

Section A Section B 
(16 students) (16 students) 

Average number of errors made by 

those who were above the median 

in speed 2.37 2.37 

Average number of errors made by 

those who were below the median 

in speed 3.25 3.00 

Average number of errors by the four 

slowest workers 3.50 3.75 

The Cleveland Education Survey showed that, in re- 
spect to speed and quality of silent reading, ten per cent 
of the pupils were both rapid in speed and good in quality 
as compared with four per cent that were slow in speed 
and good in quality. On the other hand only four per 
cent were rapid and poor, while nine per cent were both 
slow and poor. Judd states: ^These figures serve to 
emphasize the fact that good readers are usually not slow 
and poor readers usually not fast.^' ^ 

^ Judd. — Measuring the Work of the Public Schools, 155. 



MENTAL ALERTNESS IN THINKING 239 

In all tkese cases it is well to remember that there are 
many exceptions to the rule. There are some persons 
who are speedy and inefl&cient, and there are some who 
are slow and eflBcient; but if there were one thousand 
fast workers in one group and one thousand slow workers 
in another group, and if we were directed to seek for 
accurate and efficient workers, we should without any 
hesitation go to the former group. 

How can mental speed be measured? Several methods 
have been tried by psychologists. The simplest and most 
commonly used is known as the Association Test. One 
form of this test is called the Free Association Test and 
may be given with the following instructions: ^^I wish 
to know how many words you can think of and write in 
three minutes. I shall name a word, you may write it 
down and then write all the other words that come to 
your mind. Work as fast as you can.'' ^ Some word, for 
example, play, is pronounced, and the pupils are allowed 
to work exactly three minutes, after which the papers are 
collected. Other starting words that have been suggested 
are cloud, dog, car, book, mother, ball. The papers are 
graded by counting the number of words written. Pro- 
fessor Pyle gives the following norms for this test: 

Age 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Adults 
Boys 23 27 30 33 34 34 33 40 33 43 49 42 
Girls 24 31 32 37 37 38 39 40 41 42 47 38 

The score will be considerably higher and will also 
form a truer measure if the pupils are told to write simply 
the first letter or letters of each word that comes to their 

^Pyle. — The Examination of School Children, 26. 



240 TEACHING TO THINK 

mind, and are given time to complete the words after the 
three minutes are up. As given according to Professor 
Pyle's directions, the test is probably one of speed of 
writing rather than of speed of thinking. The pupil who 
happens to think of long words will be distinctly at a 
disadvantage. By following the suggestion for abbrevia- 
tions, this can be avoided. 

There are several forms of Controlled Association 
Tests. One of them, the Opposites Test, is given by 
placing before the pupils, face down, a list of twenty 
words and then giving the following directions: "You 
have on these slips twenty words. I wish you to write 
after each word, another word that has the opposite mean- 
ing. For example, if one word were far, you could write 
as its opposite near^ ^ When every pupil knows what is 
to be done, the signal is given for turning the papers and 
starting. Sixty seconds are allowed for grades 2-4 and 
forty-five seconds for the grades above. The following 
is the list of words for this test as given by Pyle: longy 
soft, cheap, far, up, smooth, early, dead, hot, asleep, lost, 
wet, high, dirty, east, day, yes, wrong, empty, top. He 
gives the following norms of speed, all reduced to number 
of words per minute: 

Age 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Adults 
Boys 9 8 8 11 12 15 15 16 19 20 22 22 
Girls 8 8 11 11 14 15 17 17 19 21 23 23 

The following may be used as supplementary lists for 
Opposites Tests: I. north, out, sour, weak, after, guilty, 
clean, slow, large, true, dark, front, love, ugly, open, sum- 

^Pyle. — The Examination of School Children, 28. 



MENTAL ALERTNESS IN THINKING 241 

meTy new, come, male, failure. II. (DiflBcult) best, 
weary, cloudy, patient, careful, stale, tender, ignorant, 
doubtful, serious, reckless, join, advance, honest, gay, 
forget, calm, rare, dim, difficult. 

By allowing the pupils to use abbreviations in place of 
writing the words in full, the score may be considerably 
higher than the one given by Pyle. 

The directions for the Part- Whole Test are as follows: 
"The slip before you contains 20 words, each of which 
names a part of something. I wish you to write after 
each word a word which names the whole of the thing. 
For example, if one word were wheel, you might write 
engine. If one word were toe, you might write foot.'' ^ 
Allow the same amount of time as for the Opposites 
Test. The following list of words may be used : window, 
leaf, pillow, button, nose, smokestack, cogwheel, cover, 
letter, petal, page, cob axle, lever, blade, sail coach, 
cylinder, beak, stamen.^ 

The normal score per minute is given as follows: 

Age 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Adults 
Boys 6 7 8 9 9 11 12 15 16 16 19 19 
Girls 5 6 8 10 10 11 13 14 17 16 20 20 

These tests all show that mental speed generally in- 
creases with the age of the pupils. They also will show 
that there are very great individual differences in the 
mental speed of pupils of the same age, and the question 
naturally arises as to the causes of such differences. 

*Pyle. — The Examination of School Children, 32. 

^Additional words for Part-Whole Test: elbow, hinge, page, finger, 
wing, morning, blade, mattress, chimney, cent, sleeve, brick, deck, 
France, pint, fin, steeple, month, hub, chin. 



242 TEACHING TO THINK 

Some pupils are by nature mentally slower than others, 
just as some are slower physically. Training will not 
take away these differences. On the contrary, it will tend 
to make them more apparent. However, the important 
fact is that everybody, whether naturally slow or quick, 
can be trained to increased speed. 

How can mental speed be developed? 

The best general rule is to set a time limit for all tasks 
that are to be performed or to introduce a speed compe- 
tition by keeping a time score. In ordinary school work 
this is now frequently done. In penmanship, excellence 
is measured by the number of letters written per minute 
as well as by the quality of the writing. In the elemen- 
tary operations in arithmetic it is indicated by the num- 
ber of problems done correctly in a given time. In read- 
ing it is easy to measure the speed as so many words per 
minute, and to indicate the quality of oral reading by the 
number of errors per hundred words or of silent reading 
by testing the pupil's ability to state the thoughts ex- 
pressed in what he has read. For silent reading, a combi- 
nation score could be made by dividing the number of 
ideas gathered in a given time by the time stated in 
minutes. 

The following are some suggestions for developing 
mental speed in various school activities: 

1. Speed in studying. Prepare a series of specific 
questions calling for brief answers on the lesson to be 
studied. The questions may be placed on the blackboard 
and covered until the time when they are needed, or they 
may be duplicated by hectograph or mimeograph. When 



MENTAL ALERTNESS IN THINKING 243 

the procedure has been explained so that every pupil 
knows exactly what he is expected to do ; namely, to find 
and write the answers to the questions as quickly as 
possible, the work begins. The time score may be kept 
by either of the following methods: (1) Allow a specific 
time for the task. This can most conveniently be the 
time taken by the swiftest pupil for completing the work. 
In other words, when the first pupil has finished, every- 
body is told to stop. The score will then consist in the 
number of questions answered in the allotted time. (2) 
Let every pupil complete the whole task and note the time 
takfen by each one. The score will then consist in the 
number of minutes or seconds required by each pupil for 
completing the task. This method requires more atten- 
tion by the teacher and takes a longer time than the 
former method, but has the advantage that every pupil 
is tested on the same amount of work. 

In schools where time scores are frequently recorded, 
the pupils should be so trained that, whenever such a 
score is to be noted, one of them can act as timekeeper 
and recorder. Committees of pupils, acting under the 
general direction of the teacher or of some pupil compe- 
tent to act as general auditor, should be elected to check 
the results and present them in suitable form to the 
school. Such work will furnish excellent problems for 
the classes in arithmetic, one of its chief merits being 
that the pupils will demand correct results. 

Whenever a report is presented to the school, there 
should be a free discussion of the causes which produced 
slow work and the methods which were most useful for 



244 TEACHING TO THINK 

attaining the highest speed, in order that the pupils may 
become aware of the factors and methods which result in 
efl&cient work. 

The competitive aspect of such an exercise can easily 
be increased by dividing a class into two or more groups 
which will compete with each other. This will stimulate 
interest in group scores as well as in individual scores. 

2. Silent reading. Another method for developing 
speed in studying consists in asking the pupils to find 
the ten (or any other number) most important points or 
thoughts in an assigned lesson. In addition to developing 
speed, such work is valuable as an exercise in developing 
judgment of values. This will be especially true if there 
is a free-for-all discussion following the exercise, and if 
every pupil feels at liberty to defend his selection of 
points. 

3. Speed in locating places on maps. Here, as in the 
other exercises, much of the value of the drill is to be 
realized by general discussions of the methods which re- 
sult in speedy or slow work. 

4. Speed in language work. This may be developed 
by such methods as the following: (1) Write as many 
sentences as you can in five minutes, using the following 
words: man, house, the, in, old, big, jell, made, for, and, 
(2) Express the following thought in as many ways as 
you can in five minutes: Many people ruin their health 
because they do not obey the laws of hygiene. 

5. Speed in arithmetic. This is of two general types. 
One is produced by drill on the fundamental combina- 
tions, and is a matter of rote memory in which the bonds, 
or associations, are fixed by vivid impressions and nu- 



MENTAL ALERTNESS IN THINKING 245 

merous repetitions under concentrated attention. The 
other consists in the ability to analyse a problem quickly 
and to discover the procedure for its solution. This latter 
type can be developed by exercises like the following: 
Place a number of arithmetic problems on the blackboard 
or have them duplicated on paper so that each pupil in the 
contest may have a copy. The task consists in stating for 
each problem (a) What is wanted, and (b) The method 
of solution. The time record and competitive score will 
stimulate speedy work. 

Tests and examinations should generally have a time 
limit. Suppose an examination is given without a time 
record, and suppose pupil A completes the work in fifteen 
minutes while pupil B takes thirty minutes. If the 
papers are equally well done, should the pupils receive 
the same marks? Is it not generally true that, in life out- 
side of the school, speed, or the amount of time used, is 
counted as an important element in every accomplish- 
ment? Perhaps we ought to use an examination formula 
like the following: Number of facts stated or problems 
solved divided by the time consumed equals the pupiFs 
examination efiiciency. 

Every school should have some conveniences for mak- 
ing time records. If a stop watch cannot be secured, the 
pupils should be trained to note the time accurately by 
watching the minute hand and the second hand of any 
watch available. For convenience in making records in 
seconds, a pendulum can easily be provided by suspending 
a small weight by a string of such a length as to make it 
swing once every second. 

Considerable attention has recently been given to super- 



246 TEACHING TO THINK 

vised study in schools. It is interesting to note how many 
of the practical suggestions that have been offered along 
this line have the developing of speed as their chief aim. 
Note the following illustrations taken from Whipple's 
valuable little book: ^ 

^^Begin work promptly. Work intensely while you work: 
concentrate. Before beginning the advance work, review rap- 
idly the previous lesson. Next make a rapid preliminary sur- 
vey of the assigned lesson. Make the duration of your periods 
of study long enough to utilize Varming up/ but not so long 
as to suffer from weariness or fatigue. When you interrupt 
work, not only stop as a natural break, but also leave a cue 
for its quick resumption.^' 

Professor Dearborn's discussion of Economy in Study ^ 
is aimed quite as much at the securing of greater speed 
as at the securing of better quality in the work. 

In developing the ability to gather thoughts rapidly 
from the printed page, one must get away from the habit 
of reading every syllable or every word. Insistence upon 
the syllable or word method in the early grades may prove 
a hindrance in later life. I have seen many college stu- 
dents who, when reading even light literature, moved 
their lips in pronunciation of every letter. I used to read 
that way myself, thanks to the conscientious but mis- 
taken efforts of my childhood teachers, to whom I owe 
the wasting of perhaps one-fourth or one-half of all the 
time I have given to reading. The object of silent read- 
ing is not to see or pronounce silently every letter or 
word; it is to grasp as quickly as possible the thoughts 
expressed on the printed page. 

^ Whipple. — How to Study Effectively. 
^Dearborn, G.V.N. — How to Learn Easily, 



MENTAL ALERTNESS IN THINKING 247 

Ideas and thoughts occur in different units, represented 
by words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and paragraphs. 
Reading may be measured by the size of thought units 
which one is able to comprehend at a glance. He who 
reads single words is conducting a sort of peanut business 
in the thought world and handles only small change. 
The ideal is to become a paragraph reader, to take in at 
a single glance the essential thought in a whole para- 
graph. There are many readers who can do this. They 
are conducting ''big business'' and, as a rule, handle noth- 
ing smaller than bank notes. Most of us never get farther 
than the clause or sentence unit, a sort of quarter and 
half-dollar business. 

How can a person develop skill as a paragraph reader? 
Very little is known experimentally about this question. 
Whipple and Curtis,^ who made a study of skimming in 
reading by college students, have gathered a number of 
observations, of which the follov/ing are the most sig- 
nificant: (1) There were great individual differences, one 
student being able to skim three times as fast as another. 
(2) While normal silent reading proceeded at the rate of 
.26 second per word, skimming took only .14 second per 
word. (3) The slowest reader was also the poorest re- 
producer. (4) There were a number of different varieties 
or types 6f skimming, the following being the most 
prominent: (a) Reading only the first sentence of each 
paragraph, (b) Reading only the first part of every 
sentence, (c) Skipping several sentences after the first 
one in each paragraph, (d) Looking only for significant 

^ Whipple and Curtis. — "Preliminary Investigation of Skimming in 
Reading," Journal oj Educational Psychology, 8:333-349, 1917. 



248 TEACHING TO THINK 

words, (e) Skipping after an important point had been 
noted, (f) Skipping examples, illustrations, quotations, 
and all ^'filling.'' (g) Glancing back at catch-phrases, 
and italicized words. 

If the paragraphs in a book are properly constructed, 
they should each center about a single thought unit. 
Suppose now that a person wishes to become a paragraph 
reader. Would it not be a good plan to practice reading 
by looking for only one thought in each paragraph — the 
central thought — and skipping all the rest? It would at 
least be practicing what one wishes to learn ; and we have 
every reason and evidence to believe that a person can 
learn what he attentively practices. 

The speediest reader that I have found among college 
students could read ten ordinary pages in about three 
minutes and could give the gist of what he had read 
quite as well as those who read more slowly. The ordi- 
nary reader will do very well if he reads ten pages in ten 
minutes. Now, if a considerable number of those who 
are slow readers could, by proper training, have been 
speeded up to a more rapid rate without losing any of the 
quality of their work, and if their slowness is due to our 
work as teachers — well, there is but one plea that we can 
enter: we did not know any better. But, however many 
sins of our past this plea may cover, it will soon cease to 
be accepted. 

A person who desires to become a paragraph reader 
must also attempt to become a paragraph thinker. This 
means that he must resist all tendencies toward a mere 
accumulation of miscellaneous information. He must 
constantly endeavor to organize his ideas into large clus- 



MENTAL ALERTNESS IN THINKING 249 

ters centering about problems of vital importance. Ac- 
cording to Charles McMurry : ^ 

'The peculiar problem of our time is furnished by an over- 
accumulation of miscellaneous materials which now await the 
fashioning mind of the organizer who realizes the full value of 
a few ideas as centers of organization, or better, of growing 
ideas as furnishing the main lines of organization." 

One other condition of mental speed and of efl&ciency 
in thinking should be mentioned. Not every idea, nor 
every problem is worth while; and to spend time on them 
means loss of speed in real accomplishment. Ordinarily 
it would seem that people might be classified according to 
the following scheme: 

'Who think very little. 

,. [About useless things. 
[About useful things. 

Perhaps it is unjust to say that some people always 
think about useless things, but there are some who show a 
marked talent for it. 

Then there is the matter of "watered stock" in ideas, 
best expressed in the saying of one of our humorists 
that "It would be better not to know so much than to 
know so much that is not so.'^ There is as urgent a need 
for a Blue Sky Law in thinking as there is in commerce. 

THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. Does the saying, ^'Stop and think," mean that we must 
^^slow down" in order to think effectively? At what time do 
thoughts come most freely and easily, when we are sluggish 

* Charles McMurry. — Conflicting Principles in Teaching, 54. 



Persons 



250 TEACHING TO THINK 

or when we are alert? Suppose a teacher were to say, "We 
shall want to do some real thinking for a little while. Let 
us begin by taking a few vigorous calisthenic exercises/^ 
Would that be a wise or foolish procedure? 

2. How does your own mental speed compare with that of 
other persons in your line of work? How would it be to ask 
some competent person to give you a rating? Good business 
people do not hesitate to do that. If you should be rated as 
"Slow/^ what could you do about it? 

3. How fast can you read and gather the thoughts from a 
book? How would it be to measure your speed of reading for 
various types of material, jot down the results in your mem- 
orandum, and compare with results a year from now? 

4. Is there any dawdling over lessons in your school? 
What can be done about it? 

5. Think of some typically slow pupil or person that you 
know. What help, if any, have they received toward speeding 
up? What factors, if any, have tended to keep them slow? 

6. If a slow child fails to be promoted and has to repeat 
his grade, will that tend to speed him up or slow him down 
still more? 

7. What, if any, is the effect upon speedy pupils of being 
in the same class with, and having the same lesson assignments 
as, slow pupils? 

8. What are the values of making '^maximum^' and "mini- 
mum" assignments? 

9. Suppose a farmer wants to be sure to turn his cream 
separator a certain number of times per minute, how can he 
fix up a pendulum to swing at the rate that he wants? 

10. Think of as many speeding up exercises as you can in 
ten minutes. 

11. Did you know exactly what you wanted to accomplish 
to-day? What was the result? 

12. How would you amend the statement, "Practice makes 
perfect"? 

13. What are the advantages of remembering facts by 
thinking of them collectively in a related group, rather than by 
rote memory? 

14. Should the students who are the most rapid workers be 
allowed to complete their course in less time than others, or 



MENTAL ALERTNESS IN THINKING 251 

should they spend the same amount of time as others but be 
required to do more work? 

15. In five minutes make a list of as many things as you 
can which were learned in an order or sequence different from 
that in which they occur in daily life. 

16. Bagley speaks of idea groups as "condensed experi- 
ences.'^ How is the '^condensation" produced? 

17. Make a list of antiquated stock in your knowledge of 
geography, or arithmetic, or physiology, or other subjects. 

18. Suggest a few thought exercises to bring this list up to 
twenty-five in number. 



XIV 



METHODS AND TOOLS FOR IMPROVING THE 
TEACHER'S EFFICIENCY IN THINKING 

How can a teacher develop skill in thinking about his 
own work? 

It will be the purpose of our present discussion to 
summarize the principles which have been elaborated in 
the previous chapters, and to show how they may be prac- 
tically applied by any teacher who is ambitious to think 
more effectively about the problems of his profession. 

1. Active thought is most vigorously stimulated by 
real problems and perplexities. A teacher who wants to 
develop skill in thinking about his work must, therefore, 
welcome all the difficulties of that work as real oppor- 
tunities. So fundamental and important is this principle, 
that any teacher, who grasps it thoroughly and orders his 
conduct in accordance with it, must of necessity become 
a more thoughtful person. It will compel him to meet 
his difficulties squarely rather than to evade them. Many 
of the attempts which he will make to find solutions for 
his problems will prove fruitless; but every such failure 
will in turn become a new perplexity which will compel 
him to continue to think. After a time, he will find that 
he makes fewer random attempts, and that he is gaining 

in power to deal with difficult situations. 

252 



METHODS FOR IMPROVING EFFICIENCY IN THINKING 253 

There are some corollaries to this proposition. 

(1) A person does not improve in ability to think for 
himself by depending on others. He may ask for informa- 
tion and advice, but he must think before he asks and he 
must think afterwards. He must not expect to acquire 
skill by having others do all the practicing. To sit listen- 
ing patiently to elaborate discourses at teachers' meetings 
and institutes is no doubt a very excellent practice. But, 
unless the listener critically reacts to what he hears, it^ 
may produce nothing more than a certain skill in sitting 
still and listening. 

(2) Reading may become a substitute for thinking. 
Except for pastime and enjoyment, a thoughtful person 
will not read unless he finds that it helps him to think. 

(3) A thinker is not afraid of making mistakes. He 
knows that random attempts play an important part in 
all progress. He is afraid of repeating mistakes. 

2. Thinking is a form of behavior and is closely as- 
sociated with action. When a person is beset with some 
difficulty and does not know how to meet it, he can stimu- 
late his thinking by doing something. Let him take a 
pencil and paper and attempt to make diagrams or draw- 
ings of the situation and of some plan of action. If no 
plan comes to his mind, let him write anything that does 
come. It will give him a start. What appears on the 
paper may seem to be mere foolishness, but it will be 
vastly better than nothing ; and the very fact that it seems 
to be foolish is evidence that one has begun to think 
sensibly. Passivity must be avoided if one wishes to 
think. 

A preacher related this experience to me a few years ago. 



254 TEACHING TO THINK 

He had been sitting in his study trying to prepare a 
sermon for the coming Sunday. For some reason he 
was unable to make any headway. He had a topic but 
could find no satisfactory method of attacking it. He 
picked up his hat and went over to one of his neighbors, 
with whom he deliberately started a discussion about the 
topic which he had in mind. This gave him the clue he 
wanted, and he went home and wrote the sermon. And 
that sermon was a true expression of his own thoughts 
and was not borrowed from the neighbor, who had merely 
served as a whetstone for his mind, as the neighbor dis- 
covered on the following Sunday. 

3. Thinking, like other behavior, is made up of specific 
reactions or responses. The climbing of a mountain does 
not constitute one general act. It is accomplished by 
taking a large number of relatively small and easy steps. 
To master a difiiculty one must break up that difficulty 
into parts which can be handled. The outlining of a 
course of study in a given subject seems like a formidable 
undertaking, until one discovers that it can be divided 
into a number of smaller problems or tasks. If one thinks 
of writing an essay or a book, the undertaking at first 
appears to be impossible of accomplishment. As soon as 
the general topic or problem has been analysed into 
chapter or paragraph topics, the difficulty seems very 
much lessened. 

I suppose that we teachers, at some time or other, all 
have an ambition to do something very much worth while, 
something big. We fail to realize our ambitions because 
we look too long at the mountainside to be climbed and 
forget to take the first short step. Most of us would like 



METHODS FOR IMPROVING EFFICIENCY IN THINKING 255 

to become experts in something. We fail, not because of 
lack of ability, nor for lack of time or opportunity, but 
because we think of the large amount of information to 
be gathered, and this makes us so discouraged that we 
never even attempt to make a start. All that is required 
to become an expert in some line is fifteen minutes of 
thoughtful reading to-day, then the same amount to- 
morrow, and so on for a few years and the goal will be 
reached. 

The corollary to this proposition is, of course, that one 
will not arrive by taking any number of steps unless the 
steps all go in the same direction. 

4. The validity of all thinking depends directly on the 
mastery of facts. The teacher who wants to think effec- 
tively about any problem in teaching must insist on 
knowing the exact facts in the case. Let us illustrate by 
mentioning some problems which are likely to be met. 

One of the questions which most persistently troubles 
the conscientious teacher is whether the pupils are really 
learning anything. A careless teacher will dispose of 
this question by recalling a few incidents and conclud- 
ing in a general way that the work is satisfactory or 
unsatisfactory. If a parent inquires about the progress 
of his child, the answer is ^^Oh, he is doing very nicely,'^ 
or some other non-committal expression. Many of the 
ordinary statements on reports to parents have little or 
no exact meaning. What does it really signify to find 
on a report card that a child has received ^^Good'' in 
spelling or "Fair" in penmanship or 89 in geography? 

No one can tell whether pupils are making progress, or 
learning, unless he is able to measure the exact attain- 



\ 



256 TEACHING TO THINK 

ments of those pupils both before and after they receive 
a given training. Similarly, no one can tell whether one 
method is better than another method unless the exact 
progress of the pupils by each method can be ascertained. 

Fortunately for the teacher who wants to obtain accu- 
rate information regarding the attainments of his pupils, 
there has, during the last decade, been devised and con- 
structed a large number of standardized scales and tests 
by which the information content or skill of pupils can be 
measured with a fair degree of exactness. If a teacher 
wants to know what progress his pupils have made in pen- 
manship during a given term, he can now very easily find 
it. At three different times during the first week and dur- 
ing the last week of school, he requires the pupils to write 
some well-known sentence or stanza as a sample of their 
handwriting, directing them always to write as fast and 
as well as they can. He calculates the number of letters 
written per minute by each pupil and takes the average 
of the three samples submitted by a pupil as the speed 
score for that pupil. By the use of a standard measure of 
quality, such as the Thorndike or the Ayres handwriting 
scale, he determines the quality of each sample and again 
takes the average of the three samples as the final score. 
By comparing the scores of each pupil for the first week 
with the scores for the last week, that teacher will know 
exactly what he has accomplished in each case. 

Such a teacher would be able to tell very definitely the 
attainments and the progress of the pupils, and his school 
records and reports might become statements of real and 
significant information instead of being, as many records 
and reports have been, merely impressionistic literature. 



METHODS FOR IMPROVING EFFICIENCY IN THINKING 257 

A report that a pupil can write seventy letters per minute, 
with a rating of sixty by the Ayres scale, conveys specific 
information to anyone familiar with the standards for 
handwriting, just as a statement that a pupil is fifty-six 
inches in height and weighs seventy-nine pounds conveys 
definite information to anyone who is familiar with these 
scales of measurement and who knows what a child of a 
given age should measure and weigh. 

As a teacher can measure the speed and quality of a 
pupil's handwriting, so he can, by the use of other scales 
and tests, measure the speed and quality of reading, both 
oral and silent. Speed and accuracy in arithmetic, as well 
as acquired attainments in spgUing, geography, history, 
grammar, and other school subjects, can be determined 
with a fair degree of reliability. During the next few 
years there will no doubt appear a large number of new 
scales and tests for all kinds of school work. As teachers 
become more and more proficient in their use, we may ex- 
pect mere theories about educational methods to be re- 
placed by scientific information. No teacher who wants 
to gain a reputation for efiiciency in his profession can 
afford to neglect these tools. 

In addition to using standard scales and tests for meas- 
uring the attainments of pupils, careful teachers are 
adapting to their needs some of the methods now used in 
business for obtaining detailed information. Merchants 
still continue the practice of taking the annual or semi- 
annual invoice, which corresponds, to some extent, to 
school examinations at stated periods. However, the 
most up-to-date establishments cannot afford to wait for 
the periodical invoicing in order to discover whether the 



258 ' TEACHING TO THINK 

business is prospering or not. The officers of a bank 
know every day the status of their institution. Mer- 
chants are adopting systems of accounting by which they 
can tell, at any moment, the status of any of their cus- 
tomers, of any department of their business, or of their 
business as a whole. Many teachers are devising means 
by which they can tell, from day to day or week to week, 
the exact progress of every one of their pupils. In spell- 
ing, for example, each pupil keeps a personal account 
showing what words he has misspelled and what words 
he has learned to spell from day to day. Teachers of 
language are using similar means for keeping informed 
about the language errors made by their pupils in both 
oral and written work. 

When such a system is first mentioned teachers are 
likely to raise just the same objections that merchants 
made to modern methods of accounting; namely, that it 
will take altogether too much time, or that the system 
proposed will not fit their specific needs. These objec- 
tions have been met in business by the invention of a 
large number of labor saving devices and short cuts, and 
by making specific adaptations for particular needs. 
School work at the present time constitutes an attractive 
field for inventiveness in this line. Convenient indi- 
vidual records of achievement and progress are needed 
for the pupils. Practically all methods for making school 
records are in need of radical revision. Labor-saving 
score sheets and methods of tabulating and presenting 
results, both for individuals and groups, need to be in- 
vented. Adaptations must be made for the specific needs 
of schools, subjects, and for individual pupils. Always 



METHODS FOR IMPROVING EFFICIENCY IN THINKING 259 

the aim should be to devise a system such that the pupils 
> can keep the accounts and thus gain the educational value 
which such work supplies. 

To illustrate what this new type of school accounting 
will do, I will mention two examples. 

Under the direction of Professor Charters/ the teachers 
in the schools of Kansas City listed the mistakes in oral 
and written language made by their pupils during a 
period of one week. The tabulated results showed that 
71 per cent of all the mistakes in oral language were 
included in the following five groups: (a) Confusion of 
past tense and past participle, 24 per cent; (b) Failure 
of the verb to agree with its subject in number and per- 
son, 14 per cent; (c) Wrong verb, 12 per cent; (d) Double 
negative, 11 per cent; (e) Syntactical redundance, 10 per 
cent. It was found that the wrong form of noun or 
pronoun occurred much more frequently in written lan- 
guage than in oral, and that the same was true in respect 
to the confusion of tenses. Oral language showed a larger 
percentage of errors due to the confusion of the past tense 
with the past participle, the use of wrong verbs, and of 
double negatives. 

According to an investigation by Sears and Diebel,^ 
made in 1916, and based upon the oral errors of 1,378 
children of grades three to eight in the Cincinnati schools, 
the following were the most common errors; they are 
listed in order of frequency : 

1. haven't no for haven't any 233 

2. seen — had saw 180 

* Charters. — A Course of Study in Grammar; University of Missouri. 
^ Sears and Diebel. — "A Study of Common Mistakes in Pupils' Oral 
English," Elementary School Journal, 17:44. 



260 TEACHING TO THINK 

3. ain't for am not, isn't, aren't 124 

4. done 113 

5. got, ain't got, haven't got 112 

6. I and my brother 96 

7. kin, jist, git, kitch 91 

8. ain't for haven't, hasn't 89 

9. Frank and me 80 

10. is for are 76 

11. them for those 75 

12. learn for teach 71 

13. can for may 60 

14. my mother, she 58 

15. got for receive, become, grow, is 53 

16. that there 38 

17. don't for doesn't 36 

18. it was me 36 

19. leave for let 34 

20. went for gone 32 

21. come for came 31 

22. never gave 30 

23. by my aunt's 28 

24. drawed, throwed, growed, knowed 27 

25. somepin for something 25 

26. broke for broken 22 

27. lay for lie 21 

28. make dinner for prepare, get 21 

29. says for said 20 

30. all two, all both 19 

31. readin, nothin 18 

32. by us for near us 16 

33. he does it like she does 15 

34. why, and, so at the beginning or in the middle of 

sentence 15 

35. that, which for who and whose 14 

36. onct 12 

37. in back of 12 

38. funny, lots, etc., for queer, many 11 

39. et for ate 11 

40. run for ran 11 

41. set for sit 10 



METHODS FOR IMPROVING EFFICIENCY IN THINKING 261 

If the teachers in a school can obtain information of 
this sort about their pupils by a few days' observation 
aided by some simple bookkeeping, there is no excuse for 
doing such random work in the teaching of language as 
we used to do a few years ago and as many are doing yet. 

Think for a moment of the beginners' course in a for- 
eign language. At the beginning of the year's work there 
is practically nothing on the credit side of a pupil's ac- 
count. On the debit side there are a number of words, 
about fifteen hundred, to be learned. There is also a 
certain number of idioms to be mastered. Finally there 
is a definite amount of grammatical knowledge to be 
acquired and applied. The pupils can easily be taught 
to keep lists of the various things to be learned for each 
week and to test themselves by such lists, so that they 
may know exactly how they stand by means of their ac- 
counts. From time to time class tests can be given by 
taking items at random from the lists of words, idioms, 
and grammatical facts which have been mastered by the 
pupils. Such tests will enable the teacher to know how 
well his work is progressing, and will enable each pupil 
to compare his own work with that of the other members 
of the class. Let us suppose that a class has covered six 
hundred words, fifty idioms, and fifty grammatical facts. 
By selecting fifty words at random from the list of words 
and ten items from each of the other lists, the teacher 
will have a very definite measure of what the pupils have 
mastered. Examinations conducted according to such a 
plan can be purely objective in their character; so much 
so, that the pupils can be taught to examine themselves 
just as thoroughly as if the teacher selected the questions 



262 TEACHING TO THINK 

and marked the papers. When one considers the matter 
somewhat closely there appears to be a certain imperfec- 
tion about an examination in which the teacher has to 
prepare the question and grade the papers. The impli- 
cation is that there is a subjective element in such an 
examination. * 

The problem of adjusting school work to the indi- 
vidual differences of pupils demands the thoughtful con- 
sideration of every teacher. It means that every teacher 
must discover the exact facts as to the individual differ- 
ences in his school. Two types of measurement test are 
especially useful for this purpose. 

By means of intelligence tests, such as, the National 
Intelligence Test ^ for the examination of groups of 
pupils, or by the Binet Tests ^ for the examination of indi- 
viduals, the general ability of the pupils can be measured. 
Any wide-awake teacher can easily learn to give these 
tests sufficiently well for ordinary purposes. A physical 
examination by a competent nurse or physician will 
furnish added information. 

The other type of test consists in the giving of sample 
or probation lessons in the subject which is to be studied, 
requiring all the members of the class to study under the 
teacher's supervision and carefully measuring the results 
obtained by each pupil. By this method any teacher can 
tell, after a few lessons, whether the pupils have the abil- 
ity and the preparation required for the profitable pur- 
suance of a given subject. Care must be exercised so that 
no pupil will be excluded on account of faulty methods of 

^National Intelligence Tests; World Book Company. 
^Terman. — The Measurement of Intelligence, 



METHODS FOR IMPROVING EFFICIENCY IN THINKING 263 

work which a reasonable amount of supervised study will 
correct. 

Such sample lessons or probationary study will be 
found to have another value in revealing to the teacher 
the amount of work which can be given as a reasonable 
assignment, and in showing which pupils should be ex- 
pected to meet the minimum or maximum requirements 
of each assignment. 

Fairness in school management no longer means to 
treat all the pupils alike. Rather it means to deal with 
each pupil according to his capacities and needs. But 
this type of management calls for a more adequate sys- 
tem of bookkeeping than we have been using. It is by no 
means sufficient to record only the number of absences 
and the standings in the monthly tests. A pupil's record 
in the school files should show all the significant facts 
about his heredity and home environment. It should de- 
scribe his physical and mental condition and the changes 
which take place in his condition from time to time. It 
should indicate his special talents and interests and what 
is being done to meet them. It should give information 
about his achievements outside of school, not only in 
pupil activities, but in the home and in the community. 
In short, it should be a real life record. 

Let me digress for a moment to say that .^ when we 
come to have school records of the type indicated, we 
shall probably also think enough of them to provide 
fireproof cabinets or safes in which to keep them. The 
absence of provision for the safe-keeping of school rec- 
ords in the schools at the present time is a significant 
testimony as to how little we think they are worth. 



264 TEACHING TO THINK 

A teacher who has been captivated by the excellence 
of accurately determined facts will seek to ascertain the 
exact value of every subject that he teaches. He will not 
be satisfied until he has discovered what should be the 
specific objectives of every course, and until the work 
has been so planned that he and the pupils can know 
definitely whether these objectives are being attained or 
not. If he is a teacher of Latin, he may set, as one of the 
objectives in a given course, the etymological mastery of a 
certain number of English words. He will then so con- 
duct the work that every pupil can test himself at any 
time and know how far he has advanced toward the goal 
set before him. Such a teacher does not make general and 
unfounded claims about the wonderful values of his sub- 
ject. He knows just what values he wants to realize and to 
what extent they are attained by each member of the class. 

Have I been describing ideals rather than realities? 
Perhaps. I know full well that most of us would become 
very much embarrassed if the father of one of our pupils 
should ask us to tell him exactly what we are aiming to ac- 
complish, and we should be still more embarrassed if he 
should ask whether we were accomplishing our aim. 
Teachers show their weakness in this respect by the atti- 
tude of hostility or scorn which they frequently take to- 
ward pupils who raise questions about the value of a sub- 
ject or any part of that subject. However, it is also true 
that all thoughtful teachers are endeavoring to become 
more and more informed as to the specific objectives of 
all their teaching. 

A teacher needs to obtain exact information if he 
is to think correctly about himself and about his teach- 



METHODS FOR IMPROVING EFFICIENCY IN THINKING 265 

ing. One thing which he can do is to make an inquiry 
to discover what those traits are by which pupils rate 
their teachers. The following table gives a list of the 
most prominent traits mentioned by one hundred and 
thirty-two college students who were asked to think of 
the two best and the two poorest teachers whom they had 
ever had, and to mention the outstanding characteristics 
of each. The figures in the column headed ^'Besf' show 
the number of times the respective traits were mentioned 
as being possessed by the best teachers. The figures in 
the column headed "Poorest'^ show the number of times 
a lack of, or defect in, the respective traits was mentioned 
as being noticed in the poorest teachers. 

TABLE IV 

Traits of Best and Poorest Teachers as Given by Students 

TRAIT BEST POOREST TOTAL 

1. Personality, health, voice, etc. 191 74 265 

2. Management, discipline 69 70 139 

3. Interesting 95 40 135 

4. Sympathy, tact, etc. (vs. Sar- 

casm, etc.) 65 53 118 

5. Scholarship 73 33 106 

6. Impartiality 36 68 104 

7. Teaching skill, methods 59 39 98 

8. Self-control 14 61 75 

9. Energy, ambition 40 26 66 

10. Interest and enthusiasm in af- 

fairs of the pupils 53 3 56 

11. Sense of humor 38 3 41 

12. Leadership 24 9 33 

13. Accuracy 14 15 29 

14. Optimism 27 2 29 

15. Participation in community af- 

fairs 14 14 28 



266 TEACHING TO THINK 

It is evident that in the estimation of pupils the pos- 
session or lack of certain traits is of very great impor- 
tance. The order of preference is significant and should 
enable teachers to correct themselves, if they have at- 
tached too much weight to qualities which do not count 
with the pupils. It is evident also that the possession of 
certain good traits is much more noticeable than the ab- 
sence of the corresponding bad traits. Notice how many 
times scholarship, teaching skill, interest in the affairs of 
the pupils, sense of humor, leadership, and optimism are 
mentioned. Notice, too, how the negative traits of par- 
tiality and lack of self-control are noticed much more 
frequently than the corresponding good traits. 

Detailed score cards for the rating of teachers are used 
by many superintendents and supervisors. On pages 267-8 
is a score card used by the department of education in 
the University of Chicago. While it is intended prima- 
rily for the rating of teachers by their superiors, it can 
very easily be used by any teacher for rating himself. In 
using it one should bear in mind that a mark of Medium 
is to signify that one possesses the trait in question to 
the degree that it is found in the average teacher. 

5. Efficiency in thinking is directly proportional to 
the amount of imagination and initiative which the 
thinker exercises. A teacher who is ambitious to become 
more efl&cient in his thinking along professional lines 
must be continually on guard against becoming a 
slave to routine or to set opinions or methods. He must 
develop his capacity to feel curious and to wonder and 
inquire about new things, new inventions, new subjects, 
new methods, and new ideas. He must be bold in under- 



METHODS FOR IMPROVING EFFICIENCY IN THINKING 

Efficiency Eecord 



267 



I. Personal Equipment — 

1. General appearance 

2. Health 

3. Voice 

4. Intellectual capacity 

5. Initiative and self-reliance 

6. Adaptability and resourceful- 

ness 

7. Accuracy 

8. Industry 

9. Enthusiasm and optimism 

10. Integrity and sincerity 

11. Self-control 

12. Promptness 

13. Tact 

14. Sense of justice 

II. Social and Professional Equip- 

ment — 

15. Academic preparation 

16. Professional preparation 

17. Grasp of subject matter 

18. Understanding of children 

19. Interest in the life of the school 

20. Interest in the life of the com- 

munity 

21. Ability to meet and interest 

patrons 

22. Interest in the lives of the 

pupils 

23. Cooperation and loyalty 

24. Professional interest and 

growth 

25. Daily preparation 

26. Use of English 

III. School Management — 

27. Care of light, heat, and venti- 

lation 

28. Neatness of room 

29. Care of routine 

30. Discipline (governing skill) 



VERY 
POOR 



POOR 



GOOD 



EXCEL- 
LENT 



268 



TEACHING TO THINK 



IV. Technique of Teaching — 

31. Definiteness and clearness of 

aim 

32. Skill in habit formation 

33. Skill in stimulating thought 

34. Skill in teaching how to study 

35. Skill in questioning 

36. Choice of subject matter 

37. Organization of subject matter 

38. Skill and care in assignment 

39. Skill in motivating work 

40. Attention to individual needs 

V, Eesults — 

41. Attention and response of the 

class 

42. Growth of pupils in subject 

matter 

43. General development of pupils 

44. Stimulation of community 

45. Moral influence 



General Eating 



taking to do things in new ways. He must deliberately 
change his methods from time to time, even if they appear 
to be fairly successful; for he will discover, if he investi- 
gates, that the practices of "fogyism'' are made up mostly 
of efl&cient methods that have become set and stale. 

6. Efficiency in thinking depends directly on a person^s 
ability to exercise critical judgment. A teacher who 
wants to think correctly about his work must practice 
assiduously to develop skill in judging persons, books, 
methods, subjects, organizations, institutions, and other 
things. Thus, if he wants to become a good judge of 
handwriting, he must collect samples of handwriting and 
train himself to rate them by the best scale or score card 
available. He must, from time to time, measure the re- 



METHODS FOR IMPROVING EFFICIENCY IN THINKING 269 

liability of his own judgment by the certainty with which 
he assigns the same value to a given sample at different 
times, and by comparing his own ratings with those which 
are made by other teachers. If he wishes to become an 
expert judge of recitations, he develops a system for rating 
them and modifies it as his ability to discriminate de- 
velops. When he reads educational literature or listens 
to lectures he evaluates what he reads or hears, and he 
tests his own opinions by comparing them with the opin- 
ions of competent people of all professions. This saves 
him from becoming pedantic and opinionated. 

7. Efficiency in thinking is directly proportional to the 
amount of cooperation which it produces. A teacher who 
seeks to become an expert in his calling can succeed only 
in so far as he adjusts his own thoughts to those of other 
teachers, and as he stimulates cooperative thinking about 
the most important problems of his profession. Most 
of us have, unfortunately, been educated in such a way 
that we have become excessively individualistic. We 
labor strenuously, each in our own place, trying to solve 
problems too difficult for any individual to master by him- 
self, when a little skillful cooperation would easily find the 
solution. 

Just suppose, for example, that fifteen or twenty teach- 
ers of reading should begin to think cooperatively about 
some problem in the teaching of reading. Suppose they 
should want to find out the best methods for training 
pupils to grasp the thought of what they read. They 
might hold a preliminary conference for the purpose of 
defining their aim and of agreeing on a proper division 
of the tasks to be undertaken in gathering materials, 



270 TEACHING TO THINK 

planning and performing experiments, and measuring the 
results. I think I know what many teachers would say 
if such a scheme were proposed. They would say, ^^It 
can't be carried out'' ; and I suppose they would be right. 
But suppose it could be. Might not such a group of teach- 
ers, after working on their problem for a year, or two 
years, or five years, be expected to answer some of the 
questions about the teaching of silent reading which have 
remained unsolved after several hundred years of indi- 
vidual effort? 

Haltingly and blindly we are beginning to learn the 
lesson of cooperative thinking; but we who now teach 
shall not be able to show much skill, because our early 
training is against us. Some day, and already we see the 
dawn of that day, there will be teachers who, from child- 
hood, have been trained in the finest of arts, that of 
thinking cooperatively. They will set themselves prob- 
lems so vast and so intricate that no one would ever have 
had the courage to attack them individually. There will 
be organizations consisting of large or small groups, ac- 
cording to the nature of the tasks to be undertaken. 
There will be investigations and compilations of in- 
formation more thorough and far reaching than we have 
ever thought possible. There will be experimental re- 
search with, in place of one experimenter, hundreds or 
thousands; and in which the work will be continued for 
ten, twenty, or fifty years. Some of the investigations 
will be state-wide in their scope, some will be nation- 
wide, and some may be world-wide. 

In that day, the name of Socrates will be revered even 



METHODS FOR IMPROVING EFFICIENCY IN THINKING 271 

more than it is to-day, for teachers will then realize, bet- 
ter than we do, what a wonderful thing it is to be able to 
think. 



THOUGHT EXERCISES 

1. Prepare a Teachers^ Efficiency Program for one week. 
Provide for a reasonable number of hours to devote to school 
work. Provide also for recreation, rest, social life, and for 
self-improvement through study and thought. 

2. Map out a course of professional progress for yourself 
to cover the next ten years. Define the objectives to be 
attained. State the best means and methods that appear to 
be available. What can be done in case the methods and 
means in sight do not prove satisfactory? 

3. Map out a plan for cooperation with other teachers for 
the purpose of, (a) Securing educational papers and maga- 
zines, (b) Securing books on educational topics, (c) Exchange 
of materials and suggestions regarding methods and devices, 
(d) Cooperative reading and thinking concerning some topic 
of mutual interest, (e) Cooperative collection of materials for 
certain types of work, (f) Duplicating and exchanging of 
notes on subjects or special topics through the use of similar 
systems of notes and the use of hectograph or mimeograph or 
carbon paper, (g) Securing information about positions or 
opportunities for promotion. 

4. Which one of the following constitutes the most serious 
obstacle to the professional progress of teachers? (a) Insuffi- 
cient salary, (b) Uncertainty of tenure, (c) Lack of super- 
vision, (d) Inadequate preparation, (e) Lack of ambition and 
planning, (f) Lack of skill in cooperation. Prepare an argu- 
ment to defend your opinion. 

5. According to an investigation by Sherman Littler the 
following are the principal causes of failure among elementary- 
school teachers as reported by two hundred and thirteen 
school officers: (a) Lack of discipline, 16%; (b) Lack of 
proper personality, 15%; (c) Lack of interest in the work, 



272 TEACHING TO THINK 

11%; (d) Lack of scholarship, 8%; (e) Laziness — lack of 
preparation, 7%; (f) Lack of professional training, 4%; (g) 
Lack of skill in teaching, 4% ; (h) Lack of pedagogical train- 
ing, 4%. 

Compare this list with the list of traits enumerated by 
students. Are there any striking differences? Does the 
comparison suggest any questions or any conclusions? 

6. According to an investigation by Gleda Virginia Moses, 
the following are the principal causes of failure in high school 
teachers according to replies from seventy-six school officers: 
(a) Poor instruction, 21%; (b) Weak personality, 17%; (c) 
Lack of interest in the work, 15% ; (d) Weakness in discipline, 
13%; (e) Lack of sympathy, 10%; (f) Inability to cooperate, 
7% ; (g) Unprofessional attitude and lack of information, 6% ; 
(h) Disloyalty, 3%. 

Compare this list with the one for elementary teachers. 
What is to be concluded? 

7. A few years ago I came across the following question: 
''Which kind of teacher would you prefer — an anemic, dys- 
peptic, neurasthenic bookworm with 90 in Education and 95 
in his special subject, or a hale, hearty, sympathetic, normal 
person with a scholastic average of 70?'' What, if any, is the 
need for asking such a question? 

8. Make a list of the ten most stimulating books or ar- 
ticles with which you are familiar. If the list is unsatisfac- 
tory, what could be done about it? 

9. If a teacher stimulates his pupils to think for themselves, 
individually and cooperatively, will that tend to increase or 
diminish the opportunities for thinking on the part of the 
teacher? Why? 

10. Resolved: That the most important step any teacher 
can take in the outlining of a course or the preparation of a 
lesson is to state definitely and specifically the purpose to be 
accomplished. Prepare a brief for an argument for or against 
this statement. 

11. Resolved: That a teacher will get more information 
and help from reading general books and magazines than 
from reading pedagogical literature. Comment upon this. 

12. How can a teacher establish contacts with agencies 



METHODS FOR IMPROVING EFFICIENCY IN THINKING 273 

that will be a constant stimulus to his thinking ability and 
his progress? Name some such agencies. 

13. Devise an efficient system for keeping notes and clip- 
pings. 

14. Resolved: That children get more real education m 
thinking outside of the school room than inside. Shall the 
resolution be passed? 

15. Resolved: That the Law of Diminishing Returns ap- 
plies to all school work. Explain the meaning of the Law of 
Diminishing Returns. Shall the resolution as proposed be 
amended? 

16. If you were asked to name the one most important 
service that we teachers can render to a democracy like ours, 
what would you say? 



APPENDIX A 

SCORE CARD FOR SEED WHEAT 

I. Will it yield? Maximum 

Points Rating 

1. Weight per bushel 25 

2. Uniformity and size of grains 5 

30 
II. Will it grow? 

3. Plumpness 15 

4. Odor 7 

5. Luster 5 

6. Germ large and well filled . . 3 

3a 

III. Will it sell? 

7. Absence of weed seed 10 

8. Condition of bran, or seed 

coat 5 

9. Absence of smut, scab, etc.. . 5 

10. Absence of dirt and dust 3 

11. Absence of injured kernels.. 2 

25 
IV. Does it show improvement? 

12. Kernels of the same variety 

type 10 

13. Uniformity and richness of 

color 3 

14. Uniformity of kernel shape . . 2 

15 

Total 
275 



APPENDIX B 

ENGLISH VOCABULARY TEST 

(Prepared by D. Starch) 

Make a check mark (V) after each word whose meaning 
you are sure of and which you can use correctly. Write the 
meaning after such other words as you are familiar with but 
of whose meaning you are not quite sure. 

Then you will be asked by the examiner to write the mean- 
ing after any of the difficult words that you may have checked, 
so as to make sure that you did not check any that you did 
not know. If you cannot give a meaning cross the check 
mark off. Words which are similar to common words but 
which have entirely different meanings will especially be 
called for; such as, belleric, canon, to cree, Mut, peavey, etc. 

LIST I 



1. acta 


16. chancroid 


2. agriculture 


17. to chop 


3. ambulacrum 


18. clearness 


4. abnormal 


19. collar 


6. Araneida 


20. to comprobate 


6. assegai 


21. constructiveness 


7. awaft 


22. correal 


8. barker 


23. to cree 


9. belleric 


24. currency 


10. bizarre 


25. death 


11. bonmot 


26. departmental 


12. bridle 


27. difference 


13. buttercup 


28. displayed 


14. canon 


29. to dow 


15. Gatananche 


30. dysodile 



276 





APPENDIX B 


31. eloquence 


66. parallel 


32. epicene 


67. to peal 


33. evaporative 


68. personable 


34. faction 


69. to piece 


35. to flat 


70. Pleurotoma 


36. forest 


71. portrait 


37. fubby 


72. prevailing 


38. to gazette 


73. proveditor 


39. glonoin 


74. quadruple 


40. gyral 


75. rapt 


41. hautboy 


76. reformer 


42. heterogony 


77. respectful 


43. hordeaceous 


78. river 


44. hyperkeratosis 


79. rutter 


45. to implore 


80. sawmill 


46. to infatuate 


81. secessionist 


47. to interlay 


82. sex 


48. Italianate 


83. sigmoid 


49. Jupiter 


84. to sluice 


50. knowledgeable 


85. spadroon 


51. Latin 


86. spur 


52. lewis 


87. stipulator 


53. loam 


88. subregion 


54. Lycoperdon 


89. sweet 


55. mange 


90. tarsus 


56. mayonnaise 


91. Theatin 


57. mesotasis 


92. tipburn 


58. miscue 


93. to transfer 


59. moon 


94. to trump 


60. musk 


95. unbeseem 


61. neovolcanic 


96. upholsterer 


62. tonotate 


97. vernier 


63. off-shore 


98. waldgrave 


64. organdie 


99. wharf 


65. owlet 


100. zelotypia 




LIST II 


1. action 


3. amentia 


2. aigret 


4. antagonism 



277 



278 



TEACHING TO THINK 



5. arbustive 

6. assent 

7. awry 

8. barometer 

9. belonging 

10. black 

11. book 

12. brighten 

13. buttress 

14. cantharis 

15. to catch 

16. change 

17. Choripetalse 

18. collectivity 

19. conational 

20. consumptive 

21. corresponding 

22. crenate 

23. curtain 

24. debentured 

25. to deplore 

26. diffluence 

27. disputable 

28. downright 

29. eaglet 

30. emancipationist 

31. epigastrium 

32. evergreen 

33. faddy 

34. ferret 

35. flaw 

36. to forgather 

37. fulgurous 

38. Gelasimus 

39. glossopharyngeal 

40. grass 

41. Habenaria 

42. hawk 

43. heterotopism 

44. horner 



45. hypnotherapy 

46. imposture 

47. infidelity 

48. intermissive 

49. iva 
60. jusi 

51. laudanine 

52. libellary 

53. local 

54. lymphoma 

55. manifest 

56. meadow-sweet 

57. metabasis 

58. misgive 

59. moorland 

60. Mut 

61. Neptune 

62. noticeable 

63. oil 

64. orgy 

65. oxidizable 

66. paranephritis 

67. peavey 

68. perspicuous 

69. piety 

70. Plotinism 

71. positive 

72. to pricl^ 

73. to provoke 

74. qualifier 

75. rasorial 

76. to refuse 

77. rest 

78. to roast 

79. sabbatism 

80. scabbed 

81. secretarial 

82. to shackle 

83. to signify 

84. small 



APPENDIX B 



279 



85. Spanish 

86. square 

87. to stock 

88. subspecijBc 

89. to swerve 

90. to taste 

91. then 

92. tissue 



93. transire 

94. trunnion 

95. uncharged 

96. upthrow 

97. vertebra 

98. walled 

99. wheat 

100. Zibet 



APPENDIX C 

TEST FOR ACTIVE VOCABULARY 

Directions: — Read the following sentences and, in the space 
after or under each sentence, write as many words as you can 
think of that mean the same and can be used in place of the 
italicized word of that sentence. 

Example: He irritated me. Excited, teased, vexed, angered, 
provoked. 

1. An athlete must be quick, 

2. We will excuse him. 

3. The tall man was awkward. 

4. A village is a small city. 

5. The man was paid well for his labor. 

6. She was prudent as a housewife. 

7. He entered the temple. 

8. Petroleum is an oily substance. 

9. Erase the mark. 

10. He was a slow person. 

11. She was weary. 

12. She was very handsome. 

13. I intend to retain it. 

14. The explanation was clear. 

15. The gown was dainty, 

16. The fox is a sly animal. 

17. She was a simple child. 

18. She had a love for beautiful clothes. 

19. I request that you be quiet. 

20. The government will give him a large tract of land. 

TENTATIVE SCORES 





High School 






College 




I 


II III 


IV 


Fr. 


So. Jr. 


Sr. 


13 


15 17 


18 


21 

280 


22 23 


24 



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Bode, B. H. — An Outline of Logic; 1910. 

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Breslich, E. R. — "Teaching High School Pupils to Study"; 
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Breslich, E. R. — "Supervised Study"; Thirteenth Yearbook, 
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BRmoES, J. W. — "An Experimental Study of Decision Types"; 
Psychological Review Monograph, 72 (1914). 

Charters, W. W. — Teaching the Common Branches; 1913. 

Charters, W. W., and Miller, E. — "A Course of Study in 
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Chassels, L. M. — "Tests for Originality"; Journal of Educa- 
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CoLViN, S. S. — The Learning Process; 1911. 

CoLviN, S. S. — An Introduction to High School Teaching; 
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282 TEACHING TO THINK 

CoLViN, S. S. — 'The Most Common Faults of Beginning High 

School Teachers''; School and Society, VIII, 451 (1918). 
CooLEY, W. F. — The Principles of Science; 1912. 
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Monograph, XX, No. 3 (1916). 
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Dallam, M. T. — '^Is the Study of Latin Advantageous to the 

Study of English''? Educational Review, LIV, 500 (1917). 
Davis, J. B. — Vocational and Moral Guidance; 1914. 
Dearborn, G. V. N. — How to Learn Easily; 1916. 
DeGarmo, C. — Principles of Secondary Education: Processes 

of Instruction; 1909. 
Dewey, J,— How We Think; 1910. 

Dewey, J., and Dewey, E. — Schools of To-Morrow; 1915. 
Downey, J. E. — "Judgments on the Sex of Handwriting"; 

Psychological Review; 1910. 
Earhart, L. B. — Systematic Study in the Elementary Schools; 

1908. 
Earhart, L. B. — Types of Teaching; 1915. 
Eliot, C. W. — "Changes Needed in American Secondary 

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Eliot, C. W. — "Latin and the A B Degree"; General Educa- 
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Flexner, a. — "A Modern School"; General Education Board 

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Gerlach, F. M. — Vocabulary Studies; Colorado College, 

1917. 
Gordon, K. — Educational Psychology; 1917. 
Hall, J. W., and Hall, A. C. K. — The Question as a Factor in 

Teaching; 1916. 
Hall-Quest, A. L. — Supervised Study; 1917. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 283 

Harris, J. A. — "Errors of Judgment"; Psychological Review, 
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Harris, J. A. — "On the Influence of Previous Experience on 
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Hazlitt, H. — Thinking as a Science; 1916. 

Henderson, E. N. — The Principles of Education; 1915. 

Henmon, V. A. C. — "Relation of Time of Judgment to its 
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HiBBEN, J. G. — Logic; 1910. 

HoLLiNGwoRTH, H. L. — "Experimental Studies in Judgment"; 
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HoRNE, H. H. — Story-Telling, Questioning, and Studying; 
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Hunter, W. S. — "A Reformulation of the Law of Associa- 
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Johnston, C. H. — High School Education; 1912. 

Jones, A. L. — Logic; 1909. 

JuDD, C. H. — The Psychology of High School Subjects; 1915. 

Keatinge, M. W. — Suggestion in Education; 1907, 

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284 TEACHING TO THINK 

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INDEX 



Aims, 143. 
Analysis, 142. 
Arithmetic, 213, 242 f. 
Assignments of lessons, 236, 263. 
Association tests, 239. 
Athletics, 179, 210. 
Authority, submission to, 95. 
Autocracy, 58, 62. 

Bagley, W. C, 167. 
Behavior, 19 ff. 
Biography, 204. 
Bloomfield, M., 188. 
BoNSER, F. G., 225. 
Books, criticism of, 210. 
Butler, N. M., 83. 

Cartoons, 111. 
Charters, W. W., 259. 
Choosing a vocation, 186 f. 
Citizenship, 134. 
CoLviN, S. S., 9, 167, 198. 
Common school subjects, 79. 
Composition, 194. 
Conventionality, 77, 94. 
Cooperation, 149, 269. 
Cooperative judgment, 71 f. 
Cooperative thinking, 53 fif., 194, 

270. 
Course of study, 181 f. 
Cramer, F., 145. 
Critical judgment, 268. 
Critical thinking, 200 fif. 
Criticism, 147. 

CUBBERLEY, E. P., 182. 

Curiosity, 99. 
Custom, 94. 

Davis, J. B., 188. 

Dearborn, G. V. N., 129, 246. 

Debates, 195. 



Deductive thinking, 166. 
Democracy, 58 ff. 
Details, management of, 96. 
Developmental course of study, 

182. 
Dewey, J., 20. 
Difficulties in thinking, 252. 
Dresslar, F. B., 93. 
Drudgery, 92. 

Educational tests, 256. 
Efficiency, 31, 203, 236. 
Elections, 205. 
Eliot, C. W., 130. 
Emerson, R. W., 3. 
Evaluation of ideas in reading, 66. 
Examinations, 7 f., 245, 261. 
Experiment in judging, 38. 
Experiment in motor learning, 24. 

Faculties of the mind, 19. 
Fairy stories, 113. 
Farming, problems in, 178. 
Faultfinding, 202. 
Fears, 90. 
Flexner, a., 12. 
Foreign languages, 261. 
Freeman, F., 52, 199. 

Geography, 80, 190, 213. 
Geography scale, 83 f., 88. 
Gerlach, F. M., 226. 
Gordon, K., 127. 
Group judgments, 61. 

Habits, 89. 

Hall, J. W., 90. 

Handwriting, measurement of, 256. 

Hazlitt, H., 17. 

Heredity, 75; social, 76 f. 

History, 204, 213. 



287 



288 



INDEX 



HOLLINGWORTH, H. L., 192. 

Holmes, A., 237. 
Hypotheses, 146. 

Imagination, 108 ff. 
Individual differences, 262. 
Inductive thinking, 166. 
Information and thinking, 151. 
Inglis, a., 197. 
Initiative, 14, 89 ff. 
Insight, 160. 
Intelligence tests, 262. 
Inventiveness, 145. 

James, W., 81. 
JuDD, C. H., 131, 238. 
Judgment, 13, 37 ff., 43 ff., 53 ff. 

KiRKPATRICK, E. A., 224. 
Kramar, U., 142. 

Laggards, 237. 
Language, 141, 258. 
Life problems, 133. 
Literary societies, 179. 
Long problems, 177 ff. 
Lyon, D. D., 221, 237. 

Management, 31. 
Management, school, 16. 
Mastery of facts, 255. 
McMuRRY, C, 249. 
McMuRRY, F., 11. 
Measurements in education, 255 f. 
Memorizing, value of, 13. 
Memory, 85 f., 108. 
Mental alertness, 235. 
Metaphors, 127. 
Miner, J. B., 122. 
Mischief, 117, 119. 
Mistakes, opportunities in, 253. 
Monotony, 90. 
Motor skill, 27. 
Muensterberg, H., 142. 

Newspapers, reading of, 68. 

Observation, 121 f. 
Opposites test, 240. 
Organizations, judgment of, 208. 



Paragraph reading, 247. 
Paragraph thinking, 248. 
Parker, S. C, 165. 
Part-whole tests, 241. 
Penmanship, 242. 
Perplexities, causes of, 140 f. 
Plans, judgment of, 208. 
Play, 30, 120. 
Probation lessons, 262. 
Problems, causes of, 140 ff. 
Problem solving, 15, 132 ff., 155 

ff., 172. 
Problems, unreal and real, 168. 
Public opinion, 59. 
Punishments, by group opinion, 

71. 
Puzzles, 156 ff. 
Pyle, W. H., 239 f. 

Questions, the stimulation of, 99 f. 

Eapeer, L. W., 18, 52, 198. 
Reading, 64 ff., 210, 242, 246 f., 253, 

255, 270. 
Recitations, criticism of, 207. 
Records of achievement, 258. 
Report cards, 255. 
Rhymes, 109, 128. / 
Ruger, H. a., 163. 
Rules, value of, 94. 
Ryan, W. C, 187. 

Satisfiers and annoyers, 135. 
Scales, educational, 256. 
Scholarship, 96. 
School activities, 179. 
School records, 258, 263. 
Schools, values of, 168 f. 
Science, 146. 

Score cards, 47 ff., 266 f., 275. 
Scott, C. A., 71. 
Sears, L, and Diebel, A., 259. 
Selection of friends, 204. 
Self-criticism, 214. 
Self-government, 71. 
Sense training, 121. 
Sentence building, 126. 
Silent reading, 244. 
Slowness, 237. 
Smith, W. R., 73, 82. 



INDEX 



289 



Socrates, 1 f. 

Speed, value of, 236, 242 f., 244. 

Spelling, 258. 

Starch, D., 75, 223. 

Standards of measurement, 57. 

Stevens, R., 10. 

Studying, 242. 

Superstitions, 93. 

Supervised study, 211 f., 246. 

Swift, E. J., 10, 106. 

Teaching efficiency, 252 ff. 
Terman, L., 222, 262. 
Testimony, 144. 
Tests, the Binet, 262. 
Tests of imagination, 125 f. 
Thinking, types of, 28 f. 
Thorndike, E. L., 3, 135, 191. 



Thought questions, 7 ff. 
Thought units, 247. 
Trabue, M. R., 127. 
Transfer of training, 161 f., 172. 
Type problems, 169. 

United States history, 183, 226. 

Vocabulary, thinking and, 141, 

217 ff. 
Vocabulary tests, 222 f ., 277, 280. 
Vocation, choice of, 186 f . 
Vocational guidance, 187. 

West, A. F., 75. 
Whipple, G. M., 246 f. 
Wilson, H. B., 123. 
Word building, 125. 



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Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



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